I'm On Fire and I Know That It Burns
by Shananigans402
Summary: Takes place one year after Glee 100. Santana discovers that Dani's music career is taking off. Instead of feeling jealous or upset, Santana finds herself drawn to her ex-girlfriend and eager to reconnect. How will Dani react to Santana's sudden renewed interest in her?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story is set approximately a year after Glee 100; the events of this story will not follow the show after that episode. I already have much of the story written, so I am hoping to update regularly without any long delays. I know much of the Dantana fandom has died off over the years, but for those of you who do stumble upon this story, please read and review! I love feedback and would be happy to incorporate suggestions into what has already been written for this story. Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or the characters.

* * *

Santana's POV

"Why are you two dressed like extras from Grease?" Santana asked as she entered Kurt and Rachel's loft, her girlfriend, Brittany, trailing behind her.

"Santana!" Rachel exclaimed as she turned towards her friend, "I didn't think you two would be back from the movies so early."

"Yeah, well we couldn't decide on one so we hit up Redbox and came back." She narrowed her eyes at her friends who seemed shifty and realized they hadn't answered her question, "Seriously Wonder Twins, what's the occasion?"

"I don't think we're dressed oddly, do you, Kurt?" Rachel asked as she glanced down at her black jeans, t-shirt and leather jacket before looking over at Kurt who was dressed similarly - not unusual clothes by any means, but a style certainly not often seen on the two roommates.

"Can't a couple friends try a new look before going out for a roommate dinner?" Kurt asked with a smile plastered on his face as he checked his appearance in the mirror.

"First of all, we never did 'roommate dinners' when I lived here. Second, you two are definitely hiding something and I want to know what it is."

"Seriously Santana, you're the one acting odd. Kurt and I are just going out to eat at a restaurant over in Midtown. We'll be back in a couple hours."

"That's a long dinner, are you finally popping the question, Berry?" Santana asked drily as she crossed her arms and stared her friends down.

They both laughed a little too loudly at the joke, which caused Santana to raise an eyebrow as she watched them inch toward the door. "We'll be back later, have fun!" Rachel called out before she and Kurt quickly exited the apartment.

"Okay, that was weird, right?" Santana asked as she turned to face her girlfriend.

Brittany shrugged as she finished cueing up the movie they had rented. "I'm always confused by what they're saying."

"But they were definitely hiding something. Where would they be going that they wouldn't want us to know?"

"Maybe they're in a secret club and they're not allowed to tell us," Brittany suggested as she opened up one of the packs of candy they had brought back to eat during the movie.

Santana frowned and began searching around the apartment.

"San, what are you doing? The movie is starting."

"Yeah, go ahead and watch. I'm just looking for something," Santana gave a dismissive wave of her hand as she continued snooping through the loft. Kurt and Rachel had gotten fairly good at hiding things they wanted to keep private while Santana was living with them. She was hoping they had relaxed their guard a bit since she had moved out to travel with Brittany. However, she wasn't having much luck finding anything that would help her figure out what her friends were up to.

After searching what seemed to be the entire loft floor-to-ceiling, Santana finally tracked down something of use and triumphantly held up Rachel's laptop as she made her way over to the couch where her girlfriend was absorbed in the movie that was playing.

"Do you have tracking devices on them?" Brittany asked curiously as she glanced over to see what Santana was doing.

"No…although that wouldn't be a bad idea," Santana muttered as she tried hacking Rachel's password. Fortunately it wasn't too difficult as it was one of her commonly used passwords - Barbra Streisand's birthday.

She quickly pulled up Rachel's internet browser and entered the search history. After skimming through several asinine questions the petite brunette had recently asked her search engine in addition to an embarrassing amount of times Rachel had googled her own name, Santana finally stumbled upon something promising.

"What's that?" Brittany asked as she glanced over to see what her girlfriend was looking at.

"I'm not sure, looks like some sort of club…someplace way too cool for them. Why the hell would Rachel want to go there?" Santana looked through the browser hits for the club, it seemed to be a low-key bar where indie and rock artists came to perform their sets.

"Well, they like music," Brittany pointed out out with a shrug.

"Yeah, but they like musicals. I honestly wasn't aware either of them knew music existed outside of the theater."

"Maybe they're in a new band," the blonde suggested in an attempt to be helpful.

"Are you kidding? If they were performing tonight that's all we would have heard about for the last two weeks since we got here." She clicked through a few pictures the club had posted, which only confirmed her suspicion that it was not a place Rachel or Kurt would typically set foot. "I'm going to check it out." Santana decided as she exited out of the browser after making note of the address. She picked up Rachel's laptop and stood up to put it back where she found it.

"But we're halfway through the movie and we still have the sequel." Brittany protested as she pointed towards the screen.

Santana frowned as she glanced at the screen, she hadn't even been aware the movie was still playing. "We can always watch it later." She suggested as she went to her suitcase to pick out an outfit more appropriate for a club.

"But I want to know what happens." Brittany explained as she turned her attention towards the screen. "Can't we go out clubbing later?"

"We're not going clubbing, Britt. We're spying on Rachel and Kurt." She noticed her girlfriend's pout and sighed. "Fine, you stay here and watch the movie. I'll figure out what Lady Hummel and Hobbit are up to."

Brittany smiled at that before quickly becoming engaged in the movie.

Santana hurried to get ready before heading out the door. She got a Lyft to the club, not in the mood to fend off potential gropers on the subway. Fifteen minutes later she was outside of the venue. She hoped she was correct in her assumption that this was the place Rachel and Kurt had disappeared to; however, she still needed to figure out why they had been so secretive.

The muted sounds of live music spilled out into the street, but Santana couldn't tell if it was any good or not. She bypassed the line and went straight to the bouncer who was regulating who was allowed to enter. She quickly eyed him up, wondering if she should namedrop celebrities she didn't know in order to get in; however, she noticed the man checking her out and realized that wouldn't be necessary. Putting on her best smile, she moved closer to the bouncer, "Hey there, my friends are inside, is there anyway I can just slip in to join them?" She asked in her most sultry tone, as she tried to subtly push her chest out and display her cleavage.

"Uh yeah, sure go on in." The bouncer replied with a smirk, blatantly ogling her chest as he waved her in, ignoring the protests from the front of the line.

"Aw thanks, you're the best." Santana replied with a grin as she stepped inside, quickly making her way down the dark hallway towards the thump of the bass. As she approached the main floor, she heard the loud sound of applause and demands for an encore. She paid no mind to the stage as she worked her way through the crowd, but was a little frustrated she'd missed the band because it had taken so long to track down Rachel's computer. Deciding the back of the room would offer the best vantage point, she quickly headed towards the back bar and ordered a drink as she scanned the crowd.

Fortunately, Kurt and Rachel stuck out like sore thumbs despite their best attempt to blend in with the crowd. She smirked as she noticed them standing together near the front of the room, being almost purposely ignored by the groups of people surrounding them. However, her smirk dissolved into a frown as she wondered why they were there. If they weren't meeting up with any of Santana's enemies, why were they being so secretive? If anything, Santana would have considered them marginally cooler for coming to a place like this, so it was weird for them to not tell her.

The band returned to the stage, eliciting even louder applause from the audience.

"Thank you!" The lead singer called out to the crowd, chuckling as she waited for the enthusiastic audience to quiet down.

Santana's attention snapped to the stage as she recognized not only the voice, but the very distinct laugh. Her jaw dropped as she saw who was addressing the audience, "Dani?" She whispered, her voice unheard over the roar of the crowd.

The lead singer turned to nod to the band behind her before the music picked up.

" _It's time for me to take it_

 _I'm the boss right now_

 _Not gonna fake it_

 _Not when you go down_

 _'Cause this is my game_

 _And you better come to play_ "

Santana realized her jaw was still open as she stared at her ex-girlfriend who was belting out lyrics and oozing confidence and sexual energy. She quickly closed her mouth, but her attention remained fixed on the blonde. Her gaze drifted up the fishnet-clad thighs she knew so well, which were covered by black satin shorts. A white v-neck and leather jacket completed the look, and Santana briefly wondered if her ex had always been this hot while performing, or if the venue and crowd added extra sex appeal.

Some of the lyrics, especially the one about chains, brought back very vivid memories and Santana quickly finished her drink to soothe her suddenly dry throat. Her gaze followed the blonde as she strutted around stage working in an array of seductive dance moves while she finished the song. As much as Santana wanted to appear cool and collected in the presence of her ex, she knew she was incredibly hot and bothered and was grateful that Dani wasn't able to see her in the dark, tightly packed room.

The song drew to a close, prompting thunderous applause and loud cheers from the audience. Santana joined in, still in a daze at the sight of her ex performing on stage. She watched as a girl in the audience called out to Dani and threw her bra on stage. Jealousy coursed through Santana's veins and she wanted to storm over and put the girl in her place before realizing she had no right to do that. Dani wasn't hers, at least, not anymore.

Dani laughed as she picked up the bra and twirled it around with a wink, "Thank you all again, have a great night everyone!"

The crowd cheered as the band exited and Santana began to panic because Dani was walking off stage. She had missed the whole performance and only caught the encore thanks to Kurt and Rachel being so damn secretive with their stuff. The thought reminded her why she was there in the first place and she quickly headed towards where she had seen her friends.

"Hey Dumb and Dumber, what the hell is this?" Santana demanded as she reached her friends who turned to face her with matching shocked expressions.

"Santana!" Rachel exclaimed, "Why are you here? How did you find us?"

"Save it, Hobbit. I asked you a question. What is this about? Do you two still keep in touch with Dani?"

"Well," Kurt swallowed and exchanged a look with Rachel, "Not really, sometimes I meet up with Elliott, and he and Dani are still friends."

"Dani's band is actually like semi-famous," Rachel explained, "So when we saw they were performing, we wanted to come check her out and show our support."

"Don't ever use the phrase 'check her out' in reference to my ex again," Santana snapped. "Were you two traitors ever going to tell me about this?"

The two exchanged another look, which made Santana want to slap them both. "Her band has a couple songs on the radio, not like the major stations, but the smaller alternative stations. You probably haven't noticed because you and Brittany were off exploring the world…but we figured you would find out eventually now that you're back in town," Kurt explained.

"Probably sooner rather than later, their songs are really good," Rachel gushed with a smile that quickly faded due to the glare she was getting from Santana.

"Well thanks, I'm glad to see that I have such loyal friends," Santana muttered before pushing them aside and heading towards the exit.

* * *

"Welcome back!" Brittany greeted cheerily as Kurt and Rachel entered their apartment. Santana was seated beside her girlfriend, watching their arrival with a look of forced indifference as opposed to the fury that was coursing through her.

"Did you have fun at the show?" Brittany asked when her greeting failed to elicit a response from her friends.

"Yeah…it was fun…" Kurt replied, glancing over at Rachel whose look of confusion matched his own.

"Santana said it was pretty lame…is that why you two didn't tell us where you were going?" Brittany asked.

Santana could feel Kurt and Rachel's confused gazes on her, but she did her best to ignore them as she examined her cuticles.

"Uhh yeah," Rachel said slowly, clearly trying to figure out what was going on.

Kurt seemed to catch on a little quicker than Rachel, "That's exactly it. We knew Santana would mock us endlessly if she knew which club we were going to, obviously it's not our typical scene. But Rachel and I wanted to try something a little different tonight."

"Next time, save the role play for the bedroom. It was such a let down and I wasted a perfectly good Friday night trying to find you two," Santana said with a scowl, but she was secretly glad that neither Kurt nor Rachel had mentioned anything about Dani. When she had arrived home to fill Britt in, she'd purposely left out the part about them going to see her ex since she was still furious and confused and a whole mess of other emotions she hadn't had a chance to sort out.

"You didn't have to follow us, you know." Rachel reminded her as she crossed her arms.

"Well maybe if you two weren't being so secretive and actually told me what was going on, I wouldn't have had to follow you." Santana pointed out, her angry glare reminding them that she was still much more upset over the situation than she was letting on in front of Brittany.

"Do you guys want to finish the movie with us?" Brittany asked, oblivious to the tension in the room.

"Sure," Rachel replied with a quick nod, seeming to realize that staying around Brittany would protect them from Santana's wrath, at least for the time being. She pulled Kurt down onto the arm of the chair next to her until he appeared to get the message as well. Although Santana glared at them through much of the movie, hoping they would excuse themselves so she could follow and give them a piece of her mind, they both pretended to be thoroughly engaged in the ridiculous plot and didn't leave the living room until Brittany had already led her to their makeshift guest room.

* * *

After everyone had gone to bed for the evening, Santana snuck out from the guest room and made her way to the living room. She quietly grabbed her laptop and went over to the couch to open the web browser. After thinking for a moment, she closed the regular browser and opened the private browser, which would not keep track of her search history and leave her vulnerable to the same sort of hacking she had done on Berry earlier that evening.

She typed in her ex-girlfriend's name, which led her to web pages for the band. Santana smirked as she realized the band's name was The Nip Slips and wondered if Kurt was now upset that he shot Dani's idea down so quickly when they were brainstorming names for their own band.

As tempted as Santana was to listen to some of the tracks that were on YouTube, she had lent her headphones to Brittany a week ago and they had since disappeared. The blonde explained that she had given them to a bulldog puppy she saw in the park because 'he looked like he needed music to cheer him up'. As irritated, yet mildly amused, as Santana was at the time, she was now just incredibly frustrated and knew that trying to borrow someone else's ran the risk of waking them up.

With a sigh, she clicked through various pages and reviews for the band, finding herself incredibly distracted whenever articles were accompanied by pictures of Dani. She noticed the earlier arousal start to creep back and wondered again if Dani had gotten hotter or if she just hadn't realized the insane level of sex appeal she gives off on stage when they were together.

Santana clicked over to the band's schedule on their website and was disappointed to see that the concert tonight was the most recent event listed. A notification at the top of the page reminded fans to check back to see when new shows are added or to subscribe to their fan list for email alerts.

Rationalizing that she had only seen the band perform one song and she should probably go to a full show just in case there were any songs about her, she clicked on the link to subscribe for email alerts. She began typing in her email address but then paused and glanced at her email handle, which she had recently changed to her first and last name to be more professional. She frowned and wondered if anyone from the band actually looked at the list of email addresses on the fan list. It seemed like a long shot…but Santana was suddenly paranoid and didn't want to risk looking like she was stalking her ex.

She opened up another tab and quickly created a new gmail account. Her fingers hovered over the keys as she tried to think of a good alias. It didn't take long before she thought of the fake ID in her purse and smirked as she created an email account for Rosario Cruz.

After setting up the account, she forwarded it to her current email address so she wouldn't have to remember to check this account for updates. She clicked back to the other tab and signed up for the email alert list using the new address. She briefly wondered if she was taking it a bit too far and being creepy by cyber stalking her ex, but brushed the thoughts aside and returned to clicking through web results for the band.

The band's twitter account proved to be quite interesting, although it didn't take long for Santana to figure out that Dani clearly wasn't the one writing the posts and was also the only band member to not have their own personal twitter account. Her ex had always been slightly wary of social media, so it didn't surprise Santana that her reluctance to engage in 21st century communication was still going strong. However, the band's twitter page promoted upcoming shows as well as sharing photos from the linked Instagram account.

It wasn't long before Santana was scrolling through the Instagram page, pausing and clicking on any picture of Dani, but being extra careful not to accidentally like any pictures as she was logged into her own account.

Her arousal sky-rocketed from seeing so many images of Dani performing - even in a photo her ex managed to look so alluring and confident that it caused Santana to have literal heart palpitations. It only took a brief moment's consideration before Santana set to work crafting fake twitter and instagram accounts for Rosario Cruz so she could follow the band's accounts. Realizing that it might look a bit odd to only follow one band, she scrolled through and followed several more musicians and bands on both accounts so it didn't appear as if she was intensely stalking Dani's band.

Santana gasped as she glanced at the time in the corner of the laptop screen, she had been cyber stalking Dani's band for hours and it was nearly three in the morning. She debated whether or not to stay up for a while longer, but eventually closed out of her browser and snuck back into bed for the night. As she lay awake staring at the ceiling, she wondered what Dani was doing, who she was with, and if the blonde ever laid awake thinking of her.


	2. Chapter 2

Dani's POV

Dani woke up and stretched, noticing she was still a bit sore in places from the previous night's show. She reminded herself that she really needed to do yoga or head to the gym more often if she was going to keep going as hard at every show. She wasn't upset with herself for long though and a smile crept across her face as she thought of the successful gig the night before. Performing live had always been fun, but the thrill of performing for increasingly larger crowds took some getting used to.

As she reflected on the previous night, she recalled seeing two very familiar faces in the crowd. While she had brushed off the presence of her former band mates at the time, her thoughts now turned to trying to figure out their motive. Were they there to support her? Possibly. Did they just happen to be at the club on the same night? Unlikely due to the vibe of the venue. Were they spying on her for her ex? Dani quickly brushed aside the last thought. Santana had been the one to break up with her almost a year ago; her ex clearly didn't care about her or what she was up to if the absolute lack of contact after the quick and sudden breakup was anything to go by.

Dani sighed as she ran her hands over her face and stood up. At this point, they'd been broken up longer than they had even dated, but she was still hurt by how the relationship ended. She thought that things were going well and that she and Santana were really connecting - however, she clearly had been the only one to feel that way. Santana ended their relationship over the phone, explaining that she and her ex were getting back together. To be fair, she offered a little more of an explanation and tried to soften the blow a bit - but not by much.

It was the hardest breakup Dani had been through, not that she had a ton of relationships to compare it to. But she was used to being the one to end things, not the one to be blindsided and suffer the consequences. Although the breakup had strained her relationship with Kurt and One Three Hill eventually disbanded, Elliott had stood by her side and really helped her out, especially during the first few weeks when the pain was the worst. He was now one of her closest friends in the city and frequently came to her band's shows. She, in turn, was using the industry connections she was making to help him launch his solo career.

She grabbed her phone to check the time and noticed she had two missed texts from Elliott.

 _Elliott (12:24am): AMAZING show D! You rocked it like always. Sorry I couldn't stay to hang out after_

 _Elliott (12:32am): btw…did you happen to notice a familiar face in the audience?_

Dani chuckled at that, but was glad that Elliott had seen either Rachel or Kurt as well. She had started to doubt herself after neither of them made an effort to see her or contact her after the show.

 _Dani (9:36am): Yeah…I did. I wonder what's going on there?_

She put her phone down and went into her bathroom to shower. After getting ready for the day, she checked her phone again to see Elliott had replied.

 _Elliott (10:04am): Checking up on you, I guess? But no worries - you were on fire last night, so she can eat her heart out._

Dani frowned at that, noticing from the pronouns that he must have seen Rachel. Which made sense, she knew he still kept in touch with Kurt so he probably would have gone over to chat if he had seen them both. She was a bit surprised by the tone of the text; Elliott seemed almost bitter towards Rachel - sure the girl could be a little annoying, but she hadn't done anything to Dani.

 _Dani (10:11am): Lol thanks? I think she was there with Kurt, I wonder why they didn't say hi_

 _Elliott (10:12am): Would you have wanted to see her?_

Dani frowned at that and tried to think back to right after the breakup. She'd been pretty mad in addition to being sad, confused, and just plain upset, but she didn't think she'd dissed or said anything negative about Rachel. So she had no idea why Elliott seemed to think she had something against the petite brunette.

 _Dani (10:15am): Umm sure? Why, did she do something?_

Elliott didn't reply right away, so Dani put her phone in her jacket pocket and stood up to gather her wallet and keys. She was supposed to meet her band at the studio at noon and figured she might as well get there early in case inspiration hit and she could work on a new song. The band was working on putting their first full album together, they had released a few covers and a 4 song EP, but they didn't have enough original songs yet for a full album.

Once she got on the subway, she checked her phone again to see that she had a missed call from Elliott. She frowned at the screen and tried to figure out why he would have called, but waited until she was off the subway and walking towards the studio before returning the missed call.

"Dani?" Elliott answered after the second ring, confusion and alarm evident in his voice.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Are you okay?"

Dani frowned as she glanced around, as if looking for an explanation for the question, "Um yeah…are you?"

"Did you fall and hit your head last night?"

Dani's frown deepened at the question, "No, but I'm starting to think you might have."

"Then why are you acting like it was no big deal that she came to your show last night?"

"What?" Dani asked as she thought back to their text conversation. "I mean, I guess it's kind of odd. But it's not like I hate her…to be honest, I didn't really know her that well."

"Okay, wait," Elliott said and paused for a moment, "I'm starting to think we saw two different people. Who did you see at the show last night?"

"Rachel and Kurt," Dani replied, wondering who Elliott could have seen that caused him to have such a strong reaction. "Why, who did you see?"

Elliot sucked in a breath, which caused Dani's mind to start racing as she tried to figure out who else was there last night.

"Santana was there."

Dani stopped walking, feeling as if she'd been slapped across the face. After being pushed past by an impatient business man, she resumed walking, "Are you sure?"

"Oh, I am definitely sure," Elliott confirmed, "You didn't see her?"

Dani shook her head before she realized he couldn't see the gesture, "No, I didn't. Where was she?"

"I think she only came in at the end…at least, I only saw her right before the encore. She was in the back by the bar."

Dani frowned as she processed the information, "Was she there alone?"

"It looked like it." Elliott replied, "I saw her approaching a couple people after you finished. It was probably Kurt and Rachel. Wow, I really did not recognize them in those outfits." There was a pause before Elliott spoke up again, "You killed it during the encore, D. I know we play for different teams, but you were so hot, you almost turned me."

Dani broke through her stunned silence to chuckle at her friend. "Thanks El," she replied before letting out a sigh, "What does she want?"

"I wish I knew," he replied, "Do you want me to talk to Kurt?"

Dani bit her bottom lip as she considered the suggestion, "I'm not sure…I feel like if they didn't reach out to me or want me to know they were there, then I don't really want them to know we saw them…but let me know if he says anything to you."

"Will do."

"Thanks," Dani smiled and glanced up as she reached the studio and entered though the double doors. "I have to go, but we'll talk later."

"You mean we'll get drinks tonight and finish this conversation."

Dani laughed at that, "Sounds good. See you tonight."

* * *

Santana's POV

For the next three days, Rachel and Kurt managed to be extremely crafty at making sure they were never alone with Santana and always had Brittany as a buffer whenever they were home. Santana was getting frustrated by their constant evasion and knew she needed answers and soon. Which is how she came up with the plan on Tuesday night to order Chinese food from the place down the block. She and Brittany offered to go pick it up, but as soon as they left the loft, Santana feigned a headache and handed her girlfriend the money to go get the food.

After watching Brittany descend the stairs of the building, Santana quickly turned back towards the loft, knowing she had the others alone for at least ten minutes.

"Okay, get to talking." She demanded as she stepped back into the loft, pulling the door shut loudly behind her.

"I thought you were getting food!" Rachel exclaimed as she jumped up from the couch. Kurt's eyes widened, resembling a deer about to bolt from a passing car.

"Britt's handling it," Santana explained as she walked towards the scared pair, "So get to talking. Why were you there the other night?"

"We already told you, I still keep in touch with Elliott and he told us about Dani's band, so we wanted to check them out and support her. Former bandmates supporting each other, that's a thing that people do." Kurt said as he glanced at Rachel who nodded in agreement.

"Is this the first time you've seen her?"

"Yes, Santana. Kurt and I are not hanging out with your ex-girlfriend," Rachel replied with a dramatic eye roll as she crossed her arms defensively.

"Well excuse me for asking, you two were the ones who decided to sneak off to see her new band while being all mysterious about it. You were practically begging me to follow you. Did someone put you up to this?"

"Oh my god, you sound paranoid!" Kurt cried out in exasperation, "And no, we didn't want you to follow us, which is why we left no explanation or hints as to where we were going. How you found us is still beyond me. Do you have trackers on us or something?"

"You wish your life was interesting enough for me to have even the slightest urge to waste that kind of money," Santana said with a dismissive huff. "Did she know you two were there?"

"No," Rachel paused and briefly looked at Kurt before continuing, "We were going to go up after the show to congratulate her…but then you found us and we felt bad, so we left."

Santana frowned at that, feeling slightly guilty that she had made her friends leave before getting to talk to Dani. Even if she still felt like it was a violation of some sort of friend code, she knew she hadn't exactly ended things well with her ex and it had caused a lot of strain on Dani's friendship with Kurt and Rachel.

"Look, I know I was a bit harsh the other night," Santana said quietly, not one to own up to her mistakes. "I was just surprised and overwhelmed by everything. Seeing Dani again was…unexpected. Especially because she was on stage singing and looking all…" Santana trailed off, trying to find the right word to describe how incredible Dani had looked on stage when she noticed Kurt and Rachel were both watching her with rapt interest. "Looking like successful or whatever." Santana finished, not wanting to give the annoying pair the satisfaction of knowing how she had really felt seeing Dani perform.

"It must have been pretty weird," Kurt acknowledged with a nod, "I'm sorry we didn't tell you about Dani's band and the show."

Santana smiled at the apology, knowing that admitting guilt was almost as tough for Kurt as it was for her. "You're both forgiven. Just talk to me first next time - if there is one. You know I hate being out of the loop, especially when it comes to an ex."

"I totally get it. We won't let that happen again," Rachel promised with a sincere smile.

Santana nodded in reply, biting her lower lip as she considered whether or not to ask the next question. "So will it happen again? Not the lying and sneaking around, but the show? Are you planning on going to another one?"

Kurt and Rachel exchanged the briefest of looks before returning their attention to Santana. "I don't know," Kurt admitted, "We haven't talked about it. I don't know if they even have another show coming up."

"Why do you ask?" Rachel questioned, a little too eager to be simple curiosity.

Santana rolled her eyes, "Nevermind."

Rachel opened her mouth to ask a follow up, right as Brittany opened the door, effectively ending the conversation between the trio in the apartment.

"Is twenty dollars too much to tip for a thirty dollar meal?" The blonde asked as she set the take out bags down on the counter.

"Aren't you some sort of math genius?" Kurt asked as he stared at the bubbly girl eagerly unpacking the food.

Brittany shrugged as she looked over at her friend, "Tipping is confusing."

* * *

 _Kurt (2:47pm): Elliott! Long time, no see. Want to grab drinks on Saturday?_

 _Elliott (3:05pm): Sure, meet at our usual bar at 9?_

 _Kurt (3:08pm): Perfect, see you then!_

* * *

Elliott's POV

Elliott sat at the bar, sipping his martini as he waited for his friend. It had been a week since Dani's show and this was the first time he had heard from Kurt since then. While it wasn't exactly unusual for Kurt to invite him out for drinks, he had a feeling that the conversation would make it's way to his blonde friend and her ex-girlfriend.

"Elliott!" Kurt greeted happily as he made his way towards where his friend was seated at the bar and took the empty seat next to him, "Good to see you."

"You too," Elliott replied with a smile, "So, what's new?" He almost immediately regretted his question, having forgotten what a talker Kurt was, but he feigned enthusiasm as his friend filled him in on nearly every detail of what had happened since the last time the two had gotten drinks nearly three months ago.

"Enough about me, what's new with you?" Kurt asked after wrapping up a story about how he and Rachel had decided to reupholster their sofa, but it had turned into such a mess they went out and bought a new couch altogether.

"Well, nothing as exciting as what you've been up to," Elliott replied, trying to mask his sarcasm with what he hoped sounded like genuine interest. "I've still been jumping between jobs, but Dani's been introducing me to some people who have shown some real interest in producing my first single-"

"That's so funny you should mention Dani," Kurt said, cutting Elliott off in the middle of his sentence, "Rachel and I actually went to see her band's show last week."

"Really?" Elliott feigned surprise and tried to hide his smirk, "What did you think?"

"She was amazing," Kurt replied with a grin, seemingly proud of his former friend even if they did lose touch several months back. "I can't believe she has her own band and they're actually scoring real gigs."

Elliott chuckled at that and nodded, "I know, it's so crazy. It's all been happening pretty fast, but she's still the Dani we know and love. She's one of the good ones."

Kurt nodded slowly as he took a sip of his drink, "Yeah, I don't know if I can picture her becoming a diva. She always seemed so laid back, perfect for…" he trailed off and glanced at Elliott. The two had talked about the break up before, but not for at least six months or so.

"So, did you go by yourself to the show?" Elliott asked, hoping the question seemed casual and not pointed.

"Rachel and I went," Kurt explained, eyeing Elliott for a moment before taking another sip of his drink. Elliott nodded, knowing that Kurt was withholding information, likely trying to protect Santana by not revealing she had also been at the show. He couldn't blame his friend because he was protecting Dani in much the same way by not disclosing that they already knew that Kurt, Rachel, and Santana had all been there.

"Well, thanks for coming to the show, I'm sure Dani really appreciates the support. She'll be thrilled to know you two were there."

"Of course! Rachel and I were going to stay after to try and see her in person…but um, something came up and we had to go home right after."

As tempted as Elliott was to push for more information, he let that last comment slide with a nod. "No worries, she'll understand. Just the fact that you two came out to see her will mean a lot."

"Speaking of which, does she have any other shows lined up?"

Elliott tried to figure out if Kurt was asking for his own curiosity or on behalf of someone else, namely Santana. Realizing there was no way to be sure, he answered with a shrug, "Not that I know of, but I'll let you know if I hear of anything."

"Oh okay, thanks." Kurt replied as he finished his drink and glanced around to locate the bartender. "So you were saying something about producing a single?"

Elliott smiled, knowing that Kurt really was a good listener even when he got sidetracked by drama. As he resumed his story, he made a mental note of the earlier conversation to tell Dani later that night.

* * *

Santana's POV

Over the next two weeks, Santana found herself checking The Nip Slips social media with an almost obsessive frequency. Every time an email was sent to her primary email account from the fake one she had sent up, she found herself making an excuse to step away if she was around others in order to check whatever new tweet or photo had been posted.

Oftentimes, she found herself bored by whatever band member had posted a selfie or replied to a fan message on twitter. However, every so often she was rewarded with a picture that featured Dani. On those occasions, Santana would let her gaze linger on the photo, trying to glean whatever information she could from the photo - did Dani look different? Was that a new tattoo peeking out from under the sleeve of her jacket? Was she single - she definitely didn't have an engagement ring, but that didn't mean she wasn't dating someone.

Santana noticed that the pictures of Dani were often of the blonde working in the studio, typically accompanied by some caption about her being hard at work on a new song. This intrigued Santana and she hoped the band would perform another gig soon; however, she had yet to receive an update about a new show.

In between keeping tabs on a band she had only seen perform one song, Santana busied herself with looking for work. She knew Rachel and Kurt were becoming frustrated with her and Brittany's presence in their loft. She was more than ready to move out and get some space from the constant annoyance of the Wonder Twins; however, she had yet to find a way to earn rent and Brittany was busy going on auditions to be a featured dancer in a Broadway show.

One night as Santana sat around with the others watching Singing in the Rain, Rachel and Kurt's choice of course, her phone buzzed to indicate she had a new email. She contemplated ignoring it as the last few emails had been rejections from places she had applied to work, but curiosity got the better of her and she opened the email app on her phone.

She stilled as she realized who the sender was, quickly opening the email to see the announcement for an upcoming performance by The Nip Slips. After checking the date of the show and realizing it was the following Saturday night, Santana pulled up her web app to see if she needed tickets for the venue.

"You okay, San?" Brittany asked as she looked over at her girlfriend who was engrossed in her phone and not paying any attention to the movie.

"Hmm?" Santana hummed, briefly tearing her gaze away from her phone. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just not loving tonight's choice of movie." She explained before returning her attention to her phone to confirm she didn't need a ticket for next weekend, but the club had a twenty dollar cover.

"If you're not having fun Santana, you can always find your own place." Kurt muttered as he shot a glare in her direction.

"Believe me, Lady Hummel, I can not get out of here soon enough." She snapped back, returning his glare before putting her phone away. She pretended to be irritated while glaring at the TV, but a small smile played on her lips as she thought about her plans for the next weekend.

* * *

Dani's POV

"Have you decided on the set list for the show?" Elliott asked as he sat down on the other end of the couch from his friend.

Dani nodded as she tucked her feet underneath her, "Yeah, we have a five song set, so we're going with two of our more popular covers and three originals. If we do well enough for an encore, we'll probably close with another cover." She explained as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before taking a sip from her coffee mug.

"Any chance I get a little peek at the set list before the show?" Elliott asked with his most charming smile.

Dani laughed and shook her head, "Nice try. No way. You'll recognize most of the songs though."

"And the songs I haven't heard before…any chance at least one of them is whatever you've been working on so intently for the last two weeks?"

A smirk played at the corner of Dani's lips as she shrugged and took another sip of her coffee.

"Would this mystery song have anything to do with the surprise visitor at your last show?" Elliott pressed.

"Elliott, I have no idea what you're talking about," Dani said with a feigned look of confusion, "But speaking of surprise visitors at the last show, did you tell Kurt about the gig on Saturday?"

"I texted him the other day," Elliott confirmed with a nod, "He said he would try and check it out." He shrugged as he took a sip from his mug, "I'm still not sure about whether he wanted notifications of upcoming shows because you've turned him into a super fan or if he's asking on someone else's behalf."

"Why not both?" Dani teased with a grin.

"Valid point," Elliott conceded, "Regardless, he knows about the show at least, but I have no idea if Santana will be there or not."

Dani nodded at that and shrugged, "Not like it makes a difference to me."

"I'd just hate for your new song to go to waste if she isn't there to hear it."

Dani opened her mouth to reply but then paused and smirked, "Sly move, El. I never said there was a song about her."

He smirked back and shrugged, "What can I say, worth a shot."

"You'll just have to wait and hear the new song on Saturday."

"I'll definitely be there," He confirmed with a nod, "And I'll be sure to text you if I catch sight of any surprise visitors."

She nodded at that, glad that Elliott was the type of friend to do those things without her having to ask. "Sounds good, I'll try to check my phone before we go on stage."

There was a pause before Elliott spoke up again, "If she does show up…what does that mean?"

Dani sighed and ran a hand through her hair. That question had been running through her mind ever since Elliott had told her about her ex's last minute appearance at her previous show. "Your guess is as good as mine. You said that Kurt didn't even tell you she was there even though you saw her go up to them…so they're hiding something, but I don't know why. Maybe she was just curious - like she wanted to check up on me to see the band for herself?"

Elliott shrugged, "I'm not going to pretend I understand what her motivations may be, I couldn't even figure her out half the time when we were still friends."

"I guess it's no use trying to figure this out, we should see if she even shows up on Saturday," Dani said as she placed her now empty mug on the coffee table, "In the meantime, you can help me pick out a killer outfit to wear for the show."

Elliott grinned as he followed his friend towards her closet.

* * *

A/N: So that's chapter 2! Please leave a review to let me know if you like the story so far or if you completely hate it. I welcome any type of constructive feedback or comments for what you'd like to see in this story! Even though it's 75% written, I'm always willing to go back and incorporate new ideas.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This chapter is a bit longer than the others; I tend to divide chapters by what I consider natural breaks in the story. Please let me know if you have a preference for shorter chapters as I don't want to have chapters be so long that it's annoying. Also, thank you to lovatics4ever'n'ever for the tip about POV!

* * *

"Hey Santana," Rachel greeted her roommate as she popped her head around the curtain that served as a rudimentary room divider.

"What's up, Berry?" Santana asked as she put the finishing touches on her eye makeup before turning around to face her friend.

"You look lovely this evening, do you have plans?" Santana narrowed her eyes, wondering if this was some sort of test or Rachel just being nosy as usual. "As a matter of fact, yes. Rumor has it that new bar over in Hell's Kitchen where all the music execs hang out after work is hiring. I figured I would go down there, try to get an in with the execs and apply for the open job as a fallback." She explained, proud of herself for smoothly delivering the cleverly crafted cover she had been working on all week.

"Oh, well that sounds fun…music execs from which label?" Rachel asked, her own curiosity clearly getting the best of her.

Santana rolled her eyes as she stepped into her heels and made her way over to where Rachel was standing. "Was there a reason you decided to drop in to interrogate me, Berry?"

"Oh yes, right." The petite girl nodded before glancing around as if to ensure privacy even though they were the only two in the apartment at the moment. "I wanted to let you know that Dani's band has another show tonight."

Santana feigned ignorance, as if this was the first she was hearing about it. "Is that so? You and Kurt planning on going to fangirl over her again?" She asked as she crossed her arms.

"We were thinking about going to show our support…but if that's weird for you, we don't have to go."

Santana contemplated her options for a moment; she knew that asking them not to go might lead Rachel and Kurt to believe she still had feelings for her ex. However, if they did go, she'd have to keep an eye out all night and make sure they didn't spot her. She had previously dismissed the idea of going to the show with them, knowing that they would be looking between her and her ex all night and making the situation a thousand times more uncomfortable.

She shrugged as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "You and Lady Lips are free to do whatever you please. If you want to spend your Saturday night stalking my ex-girlfriend in the hopes she'll notice you, suddenly forget that you both stopped talking to her like she was a social pariah after the break up, and offer to use her newfound mild level of fame to give your careers a boost, then by all means, go to the show." Santana said with a disinterested expression, "Just keep in mind that she probably won't give either of you the time of day, since I'm no longer going down on her every night and giving her a reason to put up with the two of you."

Rachel's mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to think of a response. Eventually she cleared her throat and glanced away from Santana's smug gaze. "Perhaps Kurt and I will find something else to do tonight. After all, we did go to support Dani at her show the other week. We should probably reach out to her and go for coffee before just showing up at another one of her performances."

Santana smirked at that, knowing that Rachel would never follow through with the plan to get coffee with Dani. Rather, she was simply embarrassed for being called out for trying to use Dani's industry connections when she hadn't talked to the girl in nearly a year.

"Sounds like a plan," Santana replied with a knowing smile, which made Rachel squirm even more.

"Yes, well. Now that our evening is free, perhaps I'll check to see if there's any good shows at the TKTS booth."

Santana nodded at that, already bored with the conversation as she gathered the things she would need for the evening and put them in her clutch.

"Alright, well I'm headed out. Tell the others I'll be back later." She called out to Rachel as she made her way to the loft door. As she was descending the hall stairs, she ran into Brittany who was on her way back from an audition.

"Hey San," the blonde greeted with a cheerful smile, before pausing to check out her girlfriend's outfit. "Woah, you look hot."

Santana smirked as she glanced down at her teal body con dress, which was paired with black stilettos and a leather jacket, "Thanks Britt."

"Where are you going?" The blonde asked as she shifted her duffle bag to her other shoulder.

"Oh, well there's this bar where a lot of music execs hang out, so I was going to go over there to try to get my name out…oh and the bar is hiring, so you know, also a fall back just in case." Santana explained and internally cringed at how disoriented her cover was the second time she told it. At least, it had come out smoothly in front of Rachel, otherwise the hobbit would have been immediately suspicious.

Fortunately, Brittany seemed to accept the rambling response. "Oh cool, can I come? It's been a while since we had a night out together."

Santana felt her heart rate pick up at the question and tried to think of an acceptable excuse. "Um, I would normally be all about that…but since it's kind of a work thing, it would be best if it was just me tonight. But we'll totally go out another night, just the two of us." Santana promised as she started backing down the stairs.

She noticed the look of disappointment that crossed the other girl's face, "Oh okay. Well, good luck tonight."

"Thanks." Santana replied, with a half smile and wave before she hurried down the rest of the stairs. She felt guilty for lying and sneaking around so she could see her ex perform. She tried to ease the guilt by rationalizing that she wasn't sneaking out to meet up with her ex-girlfriend, but rather just wanted to check out the show without her drama-obsessed roommates making a big deal out of it.

By the time she reached the venue, she successfully squashed the ball of guilt in her stomach. She checked the time on her phone and realized she still had 45 minutes until she show started. While she knew she could head inside and get a drink at the bar, she was worried her ex might spot her if she showed up at the venue too early.

Santana headed down the block to a bar that didn't look completely divey and made her way inside to order a drink. She pulled up her social media accounts that were linked to her alter ego and scrolled through her feed for updates from the band. Of course, the show had been heavily promoted on all the band's platforms ever since it was announced, but Santana was mostly interested in any post or photo that featured Dani.

She could tell from the more recent tweets that whatever song Dani had been working on was going to be debuted at the show tonight. Several fans had commented on posts asking for a teaser or a clue as to what the song was about; however, the band members weren't revealing much, telling fans that Dani was the mastermind behind the song, but that it was good and they wouldn't be disappointed.

A few minutes before the show was scheduled to start, Santana made her way back toward the venue and waited in line to get in. She paid her cover and entered the dimly lit club, which was getting ready for the show to start as evidenced by a couple staff members finishing setting up the stage. Santana slipped through the crowd to the bar, finding that alcohol was helping to calm her - although why she was nervous in the first place, she wasn't quite sure. After getting her drink, she made her way to the side of the room where she had a great view of the stage, while being concealed from the lights being reflected out into the center part of the audience.

However, Santana hadn't noticed a familiar presence who had been at the opposite end of the bar, watching her order a drink before moving off to the other side of the club. The man smirked before typing out a message to the lead singer of the band.

 _Elliott (9:59pm): You'll never guess who just showed up…looks like whatever mystery song you're debuting won't be going to waste ;)_

Santana sipped her drink as she glanced around the crowd, wondering how many of Dani's friends were in the audience. She quickly realized that she'd never really met any of Dani's other friends while they were dating. Even though her ex had talked about friends she'd made in the city and her friends from roller derby, Santana had never actually met any of them.

She frowned as she contemplated this, wondering why she hadn't met her ex's friends. Sure, they often spent their time at the loft with Santana's friends, but that was because they were both in the band with Kurt and Rachel. She recalled a few instances where Dani had talked about planning a dinner or drinks with some of her friends…but those plans usually fell through due to Santana's more pressing interest in spending any alone time they were afforded to appease her own sexual appetite.

A wave of guilt washed over her at the realization she'd been a pretty bad girlfriend apart from just the shitty way she had ended things. As she finished her drink, she wondered if she should go home - she couldn't remember why she was even here in the first place. However, some unknown reason kept her solidly planted in her spot as she set her empty cup down on a nearby ledge and watched as the band members took the stage.

Santana's breath caught in her throat as she watched Dani take her place at the front of the stage. If possible, the blonde looked even better than in her previous show. She was dressed in all black, with thigh high boots leading up to impossibly short satin shorts - Santana noticed they were similar to the ones from the last show and was pleased to see the return of the garment which accentuated her curves so well. Her look was completed by a lace black shirt with a black bra being the only thing underneath the shirt.

Santana wished she had another drink to ease her suddenly dry mouth, but she could tell she was already feeling the effects of the earlier drinks at the bar combined with the cocktail she'd finished in a matter of minutes as soon as she arrived at the venue. Her head felt pleasantly fuzzy from the alcohol and the part of her brain that should be telling her not to ogle her ex was silenced, at least for the moment. A smirk spread across her face as her gaze traveled over her ex, lingering along her curves.

"Are you all ready for a fucking amazing night?" Dani asked the audience with a grin, eliciting a loud cheer and applause. The eager response caused Dani to laugh, a welcome sound that caused Santana to smile as she watched the blonde bask in the enthusiasm of the crowd.

After introducing the members of the band, The Nip Slips launched into their first song of the night, which Santana recognized as a cover of a song she was vaguely familiar with. She wouldn't have been surprised if Dani had been the one to introduce the song to her way back when. The blonde was performing the song as if she had been born to do so and Santana was disappointed she had never noticed how much charisma Dani had back when they were dating. Of course, she'd always know her ex was talented, but if she had known how Dani could own a stage and absolutely slay a song that wasn't even hers, Santana would have never let Kurt restrict her to doing backing vocals during their performances.

The band played another two songs, both original songs that Santana had obviously never heard, but enjoyed. As hard as she tried to listen to the lyrics, she found herself more caught up in the rhythm of the music and the way Dani swayed her hips or moved around the stage. Santana was mesmerized by how Dani made even the simplest dance moves look seductive and wondered if it was the combination of the outfit and the sensual tone of her voice, or just pure sexual energy making it's way into the movement of her body.

As the band began it's fourth song in the set, which Santana recognized as a cover, she realized her pleasant buzz was wearing off. She glanced towards the bar on the opposite end of the room and debated whether or not it was worth the risk to make her way over to get another drink. Realizing it would be unlikely for Dani to notice her in the packed venue, especially while she was performing with bright lights on her, Santana made the decision to get another drink, being careful to cut across the back of the room.

After getting another drink, this one stronger than the last, Santana relaxed against the ledge of the bar. She was thoroughly enjoying the music, or at least, thoroughly enjoying watching the lead singer perform…although she knew the band was objectively very good apart from Dani's obvious sex appeal. As the second cover of a night drew to a close, she noticed the band taking a brief break while Dani spoke to the band members. She wondered if they were preparing to perform the new song they had been mentioning on social media for the last two weeks.

Dani wrapped up the discussion with her band before taking her place back at the microphone. "This is our last song of the set, we hope you enjoy it and thank you all for being a kick ass audience!"

They audience let out another enthusiastic cheer, one of many of the night, eliciting amused chuckles from the lead singer as she took her place behind a keyboard for the first time that evening. Santana couldn't help but smirk in anticipation of watching Dani play, she'd always found it incredibly attractive watching her girlfriend play guitar or keyboard. She would often get distracted by the blonde's skillful fingers moving along the fret or the keys and her mind would drift to thoughts of what else those fingers were skilled at doing.

Santana had to bite her lip to refocus her attention on the present before she became lost in very dirty thoughts. She watched as Dani adjusted her mic stand before addressing the audience, "I hope you all don't mind that I adjusted some pronouns in this last song…I did my best, but, well you'll see." She announced as she pulled a mock nervous face, which caused the audience to laugh and clap to show their support of her artistic decisions.

Santana frowned at the announcement as it seemed like it would be another cover if Dani was making an announcement about adjusting the song pronouns. However, as the band started playing the intro to the song, Santana immediately recognized the song and her jaw dropped.

 _"She left no time to regret_

 _Kept her lips wet_

 _With her same old safe bet"_

Although Santana's initial reaction had been shock at Dani covering an Amy Winehouse song, in fact the very same one Santana had performed in high school to audition for a solo, she quickly began paying closer attention to the lyrics as she noticed the parallels.

 _"Me and my head high_

 _And my tears dry_

 _Get on without my…girl"_

Dani paused to pull a face at the not quite fitting lyric change, which caused the audience to laugh and applaud anyway. Santana heard the laughter, but was too busy thinking through the lyrics and wondering if Dani had chosen this song to convey her feelings about their break up.

 _"You went back to what you knew_

 _So far removed from all that we went through_

 _And I tread a troubled track_

 _My odds are stacked_

 _I'll go back to black"_

Dani continued to belt out the lyrics, adding in the occasional seductive sway of her hips and whatever other dance moves she could do while playing the keyboard. Santana found herself once again mesmerized by the sensual move of Dani's hips as she wondered if this was the first time Dani's band had performed this cover, or if it was one they performed frequently. While she hadn't seen any videos of it posted on their social media, she knew that they would be more likely to post original music than covers anyway.

 _"We only said goodbye with words_

 _I died a hundred times_

 _You go back to her_

 _And I go back to…_

 _I go back to us_

 _I love you much_

 _It's not enough_

 _You love blow, and I love puff"_

Santana watched the emotion on Dani's face as she performed the song. Even though her ex was playing the part of the composed lead singer merely covering a song, she saw the hurt behind the lyrics. She knew that even if Dani hadn't been the one to choose the cover, that she undoubtedly was thinking of their break up as she sang. After all, it was highly unlikely that any of her other ex's had gone back to an ex-girlfriend. She watched as Dani sang through the middle verses, which were less reminiscent of their break up. Santana bit her bottom lip as she checked her ex out for what had to be the hundredth time that night.

 _"We only said goodbye with words_

 _I died a hundred times_

 _You go back to her_

 _And I go back to black"_

Santana watched as Dani performed the final chorus and noticed the almost imperceptible breath the blonde took in to compose herself before plastering on a smile as the audience burst into wild applause.

"Thank you everyone, you were amazing tonight!" Dani called out to the crowd, her band waving as they walked off stage. As soon as they disappeared, rowdy demands for an encore bubbled up from the crowd.

Santana quickly put in an order for a shot of something strong to cope after the latest performance. She debated heading out, feeling overcome with guilt after the last song, but she found herself unwilling to leave just yet.

* * *

Dani chugged a bottle of water as she quickly checked her texts.

 _Elliott (10:45pm): AMAZING SHOW D! Couldn't help but notice there wasn't a new original though_

The blonde smirked as she quickly typed out a reply.

 _Dani (10:47pm): Last minute set change…patience ;)_

 _Elliott (10:47pm): btw the person this mystery song is clearly NOT written for is by the bar._

Dani's smirk widened as she put her phone down and went over to talk to her band. A minute later the group emerged back on stage to excited cheers.

"Thanks for the love!" Dani called out as her band got settled with their instruments. She had chosen to forgo an instrument for the final song.

"In case everyone couldn't tell, the last cover was a little…personal for me." Dani announced to the crowd, eliciting a few chuckles and scattered applause of support. "But tonight, for the first time, we're performing a new song that I recently wrote to convey the things that I'd love to get to express to that person…wherever they may be." At the last part, Dani directed her gaze towards the bar, almost immediately finding and locking her gaze on Santana. Even with the bright spotlights directed on stage, obscuring her vision, Dani could still detect the look of shock on her ex's face. The blonde smirked, hoping that she conveyed to Santana that her presence was not surprising or unexpected. She glanced over her shoulder and nodded at her band, giving them the cue to begin the final song.

 _"Now I'm out here looking like revenge_

 _Feelin' like a ten, the best I ever been_

 _And yeah, I know how bad it must hurt_

 _To see me like this, but it gets worse_

 _Now you're out here looking like regret_

 _Ain't too proud to beg, second chance you'll never get_

 _And yeah, I know how bad it must hurt to see me like this_

 _But it gets worse"_

Dani grinned before launching into the chorus. She had been practicing her moves all week in anticipation of this show, and this song in particular. With every move of her hips and every drop and slow lift, she wanted to not only capture her ex's attention, but remind her what she had missed out on. Sure, Dani was aware it was petty, but she didn't have it in to her care - especially because the ex who had left her for someone else had tried to stealthily attend two shows.

After finishing the second verse, Dani eagerly began the next chorus, unable to help herself from glancing over at Santana and adding a sensual drop at the line 'being so bad got me feeling so good'. Part of her wished she could more clearly make out her ex's expression, while a larger part of her was grateful she couldn't, knowing it would be much too distracting.

She easily transitioned into the bridge and then the final chorus of the song, trying to focus on finishing strong while trying to confidently pull off moves she hoped were conveying the level of sex appeal she was aiming for. If the cheers and whistles of the crowd were anything to go by, she was certainly doing a good job. As she neared the end of the song, she made her way back to center stage and fixed her gaze on Santana as she belted out the final lines.

 _"Feeling inspired 'cause the tables have turned_

 _Yeah, I'm on fire and I know that it burns"_

Dani smirked proudly as she finished the song, the loud applause from the crowd nearly deafening as she tore her gaze from her ex to look around the room. Her face split into an excited grin as she felt the enthusiasm of the crowd pumping through her veins. She and the band thanked the crowd a final time before leaving the stage. The band members exchanged their usual congratulations for a show well played, with extra praise given for how well Dani's new song had gone over. The blonde happily accepted the compliments, trying to remain focused on the conversation among her band mates instead of giving the near overwhelming urge to peek out into the slowly dispersing crowd to see if her ex was still there.

She found herself zoning out as the band discussed where to go after the show. They were still an up and coming band, so they didn't have any big meet-and-greet events after shows, but rather went to a nearby bar where sometimes they would run into people who had just attended the show. Oftentimes, they were open to having fans, or at least people who had seen the show and liked it, join them in their post show drinks and celebration. In fact, the other members of the band, who were all guys, often found post-show hook ups among the female fans who joined them after the show.

Dani had also indulged in bringing home, or going home with, female fans after shows for the first few months when the thrill of performing and having actual fans was new and exciting. Dani still found performing to be exciting given that it had only been about six months or so; however, she had quickly tired of the post-show hook-ups. She'd had more than one girl she had brought home 'coincidentally' show up on her block a few days later, hoping to run into her. Although Dani was open to a more serious relationship, having grown bored with one night stands, none of the fans she had met so far had struck her interest as more than a hook-up. In fact, she hadn't had a relationship longer than three dates ever since Santana had broken up with her. While she didn't think it was because she was still recovering from the break-up, being with Santana had definitely raised her expectations for a relationship. There had been something about her ex that had captured her attention right away and there were many unique and amazing things about Santana that Dani hadn't found in anyone else. At least, not yet.

She gave in to the temptation to at least check her phone for messages from Elliott. She was disappointed to see no new messages from him, although she couldn't help but smile at the messages of support from friends and acquaintances who had come out to the show. The presence of someone backstage grabbed her attention and she glanced up to see Elliott making his way towards the band. She waved at her friend before standing up and making her way towards him.

"Hey, Dani. You meeting us at The Bunker later?" Max, the band's drummer, called out to her.

She nodded at that, recognizing the name of the bar a couple blocks down. "Yeah, I'll meet you all there."

Elliott was practically buzzing with excitement when Dani reached him.

"You were phenomenal out there!" He enthused as he pulled her into a tight congratulatory hug.

Dani laughed as she returned the hug, "Thanks El, I'm glad you enjoyed the show."

"Well yeah, you guys always bring it. But I was referring to that encore. I didn't know you had that in you, D!"

"Was it too much?" She asked, suddenly nervous about whether she had gone a little too far with the moves or lyrics.

"Hell no!" Elliott replied with a grin. "First of all, she deserved to hear every single word of that amazing song. But you might have broke her with those moves."

Dani furrowed her brow in confusion and quickly led Elliott back to the club's small dressing room so they could have privacy from the rest of the band members and club staff who were cleaning up and getting ready to head out.

"What do you mean?"

"Okay, granted I didn't have the best view of her from where I was standing. But she definitely seemed affected by that song…although I can't tell if she was pissed or surprised…or maybe just turned on." He teased with a wink.

Dani chuckled and shook her head, "Did she leave right after?"

"I'm not sure," Elliott admitted with a shrug, "I fought my way through the crowd to come see you and congratulate you in person."

Dani nodded slowly, wishing she could know how her ex had taken the song. Hopefully she had gotten the message and wouldn't keep lurking around Dani's shows.

"You headed out to celebrate?" Elliott asked as he glanced out the door, watching the rest of the band members depart.

"Yeah, in a bit." Dani said, knowing she needed some time to come down from the high of the show and process what had happened before joining the rest of the band.

"Want me to help pack up your instruments?" Elliott offered, wanting to help out his dazed looking friend however possible.

"Uh no, that's okay." She replied as she went over to peek out the door to confirm her suspicions. "I think the guys took care of it, we always pack everything in Max's van and he takes it back to the studio before meeting the rest of the guys out after." She explained before turning around to face her friend, a small smirk playing at her lips. "So you liked the song?"

Elliott laughed at that, "Like is an understatement. That song was incredible, Dani."

The blonde laughed before turning back to pack up her makeup from the counter of the room. "If you want to head over to The Bunker, I'll meet you there in 15."

"I'll see you there," he agreed before exiting the cramped dressing room.

Dani glanced at her appearance in the mirror, glad to see that her make-up had held up pretty well through the heat and crazed energy of the performance. She glanced down at her outfit, wondering if she should change before heading out. Although she'd be more comfortable in the jeans and t-shirt she brought with her, the likelihood of following through with her plans to actually go to the bar instead of grabbing a pizza and heading home would significantly drop if she changed. With a sigh, she grabbed a hand towel from her bag and dampened it in the small sink in the corner of the room so she could freshen up.

As she relaxed under the feel of the cool towel running over her face and neck, she let her thoughts drift back to the show. It had been their best show yet, in Dani's opinion. Although how much of that had to do with getting to sing her new song directly to her ex, she wasn't sure. She couldn't deny that the rush she had experienced while performing that song in particular was unlike anything she had experienced. She had felt invincible in that moment, escaping from any thoughts of self-doubt or hurt over the relationship.

She tossed her towel into her bag before glancing again in the mirror to touch up her make-up. As she was taking a final sweep of the room to ensure she had collected all of her things, she was suddenly aware of a presence behind her.

She turned around, expecting to see a member of the club staff but was shocked at the presence in the doorway. Her finally calm heart rate instantly spiked as she tried to mask her look of shock into one of indifference. "What are you doing here?"

Santana smirked as she eyed the stunned blonde in front of her. "Hello to you too, Dani. Long time, no see."

Dani crossed her arms, her attempt to appear unruffled by the surprise visitor undermined by her annoyance with her ex's cockiness. "Hmm yeah…I wonder why that is." Dani replied pointedly.

A look of guilt flashed across Santana's face before being masked by her usual smug expression. "I just wanted to stop by to to congratulate you, the show was amazing." She pushed off of the doorway and took a step into the room, letting her gaze drift over Dani's figure. "I especially enjoyed the last song."

Dani felt her pulse race as her ex moved closer, eyeing her like she was a Playboy centerfold. She refused to let Santana have the upper hand by letting on that she was getting flustered, so she summoned all of her earlier courage from the show and fixed the smirking girl in front of her with a bemused stare. "You must not have heard the lyrics."

Unfortunately, this comment only seemed to fuel the other woman's confidence, "Although it was a challenge to keep my attention on the words," she emphasized the statement by letting her gaze purposefully sweep down the woman in front of her, "You definitely got your point across."

"Good." Dani replied bluntly, forcing herself to maintain eye contact despite her inner turmoil at the closeness of her ex. "Then I'll ask again - why are you here?"

Santana ignored the pointed tone as she took another step closer, "I couldn't help but notice you weren't exactly surprised to see me tonight, it seems you already knew I was here."

"Knowing that you _are_ here is different than knowing why." Dani clarified, fixing Santana with a stern look. "Care to enlighten me?"

"Hmm it's been a while, but I'd be more than happy to." Santana teased with a playful smirk, easily twisting Dani's words to have a sexual meaning as she reached out to run her fingers along the black lace sleeve covering Dani's arm.

Dani willed herself to keep from reacting to the blatant come on and soft caress, schooling her features into a mask of indifference. "Is that it then? You're here for a quick fuck for old time's sake?"

Santana seemed briefly caught off guard by the bite in Dani's words before resuming her playful teasing, trailing her fingers slowly back up the blonde's arm. "You know I never did anything quick."

The blonde couldn't help but swallow as she tried to keep the flood of memories at bay. She knew Santana always liked to take her time during sex, even when there was a time pressure - and they'd been late to almost every band practice because of it. She wondered how the hell she'd gotten into this situation and how she could manage to get out while maintaining some shred of dignity and not giving her ex the satisfaction of seeing her flustered.

She quickly ran through her options, she could play off Santana's last comment by insulting her ex's skills in the bedroom; however, she quickly dismissed that option, knowing it would only momentarily deter her ex who had near narcissistic levels of confidence. She could remind Santana that she had a girlfriend…although she wasn't sure if this was still true; despite the nagging feeling she had that Santana was not single, it was a risky move since she didn't know for sure. After weighting her choices, she decided to go with option C.

"Pretty bold move for someone who hasn't spoken to me in a year." Dani pointed out as she briefly dropped her gaze to pointedly look at the hand that was still teasingly stroking her arm. "I'll have you know that I have a girlfriend who keeps me very, very satisfied."

Santana's hand only faltered for a moment before continuing it's journey up along Dani's arm to play with blonde strands of hair resting on her shoulder. "No you don't. If you had a girlfriend, I wouldn't be here talking to you. She'd already have dragged you off to fuck your brains out after tonight's show."

Dani swallowed roughly as she forced her gaze away from the hand playing with her hair to meet Santana's hungry stare. She hadn't noticed before, but her ex's eyes were nearly black with lust. She wasn't surprised by this, she had known from the moment Santana had appeared in the doorway that her actions and comments were fueled purely by sexual desire. Dani felt the smallest bit of pride knowing that she had caused that during her performance.

"She's out of town," Dani shot back, not wanting to give Santana the benefit of knowing she was single. Even to her own ears, the excuse sounded weak.

"Then she's going to be really pissed about this," Santana's teasing smirk called Dani's bluff as she leaned in, closing the remaining space between the two women before kissing Dani hard.

Dani was shocked by the sudden move, but found that her body betrayed her by responding to the kiss before she had recovered her ability to consciously direct her actions. Her lips moved against Santana's as her eyes slipped closed. The familiarity of kissing her ex combined with the intense emotions that had been stirred up while writing and performing the song for her contributed to Dani's participation in the kiss. Her movements were driven by an unconscious desire to give back just as much passion as she was getting.

As Santana's hand slipped behind Dani's neck, tangling in her hair and pulling her deeper into the kiss, Dani's hand found it's way to Santana's hip, bringing her ex's body flush against her own.

She could practically feel Santana's smugness through the kiss, and decided to take charge by taking her ex's plump lower lip between her teeth and biting down hard before soothing the nip with a teasing swipe of her tongue. Santana responded immediately, moaning into the kiss as her grip in Dani's hair tightened and her free hand found it's way to grab a hold of the blonde's ass.

Dani gasped; she'd forgotten how Santana reacted to rough kisses. Her own arousal had noticeably spiked and drove her actions as she quickly released Santana's bottom lip before deepening the kiss and slipping her tongue into Santana's welcoming mouth.

The kiss soon became a heated and frantic battle as both girls struggled to reclaim dominance. Dani's mental alarms finally began to go off, alerting her to the dangerous situation she had found herself in. As Santana began to tease the blonde's lower lip between her teeth, Dani wondered how she could possibly end this encounter and come out on top. Santana had clearly gotten what she had wanted out of this exchange and Dani had failed to keep her ex at bay and was now engaged in the most passionate make out session she'd had since…well, probably since she was with Santana.

An idea popped into her head and as much as her body wanted to stay engaged with the kissing and mild groping, she knew she couldn't. There were too many questions she didn't yet have answers to - and now wasn't the time to get them.

She moved her hands up to rest on Santana's shoulders, gently pushing her ex away and effectively breaking the kiss. Before Santana could voice the confusion that was written on her face or attempt to move back in to continue the kiss, Dani swiped a finger under her now swollen lower lip in an attempt to remove traces of the other girl's lipstick.

"Well, that was fun, but I have to go," Dani said as she slipped past her stunned ex to pick up her bag on the floor and head towards the exit without giving in to the urge to glance over her shoulder. She kept walking until she exited the club through the back door and then paused to lean against the brick wall. Her mind and body were still a confusing swirl of thoughts and emotions. As proud as she was to be the one to leave a horny Santana behind, clearly wanting more, her own body was still very much turned on and frustrated at the lack of release.

She took a few calming breaths, waiting several minutes in the alley behind the club until she figured Santana was long gone. She tried to fix her appearance as best she could without a mirror before making her way over to The Bunker.

"Hey, there you are!" The band's lead guitarist, Pete, called out to Dani with a tipsy grin.

"Hey guys," She greeted her band members as she walked over to the corner booth they had claimed.

"I was getting worried you had ditched us to get pizza and go home." Elliott said with a playful smile.

Dani smirked at how well her friend knew her and shrugged, "I mean it was tempting, I had to seriously weigh the pros and cons, you all beat pizza by this much," she replied as she held her thumb and forefinger up, nearly touching.

"We beat pizza!" Max, the band's drummer, cheered triumphantly, thrusting a fist in the air.

"What's with the sex hair? Did you have a quickie before coming over here?" Pete teased as he reached over to pull on a strand of mussed blonde hair.

"Oh yeah, totally." Dani deadpanned, although her expression betrayed her slight panic as she ran her fingers through her hair, hoping to straighten out whatever mess her ex had caused.

Elliott appraised his friend with a perplexed frown before standing up and taking her by the arm, "Let's go get drinks."

Dani followed him to the bar, grateful for the distraction. However, not long after they had placed their orders, Elliott turned to face her head on.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?" Dani asked, giving an expression she hoped conveyed naive confusion.

"Dani, your hair is fucked up, your lips are swollen, and the lipstick you had on when I left you is all but gone now."

"I, uh, washed it off. And must have scrubbed really hard." Dani explained, knowing the excuse sounded lame.

"So you washed your lipstick off, but left your eye makeup on?"

"…Yes?" Dani fixed Elliott with a hopeful grin, begging him not to push her further.

"Dani, who were you making out with?"

The bartender placed their drinks in front of them and Dani handed her card over to start a tab. She avoided Elliott's unwavering gaze as she took a long sip from her drink. When she risked a glance back over, he hadn't eased up on his impatient glare.

"Dani. Who?"

She knew the guilt must have been written all over her face, with the way she squirmed under his questioning glare and tried to busy herself with examining the foam on her beer before taking another slow sip.

"Oh my god," Elliott gasped, apparently putting the pieces together, "Tell me you did not just make out with Santana."

Dani knew she wasn't a good enough liar to think of a believable alternative explanation in her still mildly flustered state. Elliott got his answer almost immediately as she took another sip of her drink and made a move to go join her bandmates.

"Dani! You are not getting off the hook that easy, what the hell happened back there?"

The blonde sighed as she set her drink down and ran a hand through her hair. She recounted the story of Santana's visit as best she could, but purposely left out details of how she had escalated the kiss and how long the make out session had gone on. However, she repeated the exact phrase she had said to Santana before leaving, which earned a small smile from Elliott who had otherwise been listening to the story with a disapproving frown.

"What does this mean? Is she trying to get you back?"

Dani shrugged at that, "I have no idea, I got the feeling whatever happened tonight was driven by lust rather than conscious thought."

Elliott nodded as he took a sip of his own drink, "I take it she broke up with her girlfriend then?"

Dani purposefully glanced away as she raised her glass to her lips.

"Dani." Elliott said sternly as he waited for his friend to make eye contact, "Is she still with her girlfriend?"

Dani lifted one shoulder in a sheepish shrug, "That didn't exactly come up," she explained, but raised a finger to silence Elliott before he could comment, "It's not like I'm trying to get back together with her. This was more like…like a goodbye kiss."

Elliott eyed her skeptically, as if searching for the truth in her statement, "You sure about that?"

Dani nodded resolutely, "I think I made that pretty clear when I walked away. Look, El, I know it wasn't my best moment…but I finally got the upper hand with Santana. You know how hard that is."

A small smile played at Elliott's lips as he nodded, "I'll give you that," he said as he picked up his drink, "Come on, I've been waiting to toast your amazing show."

Dani grinned, grateful for the change in conversation as she grabbed her own glass and followed him back to where her band mates were waiting to celebrate another successful performance.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the third chapter. Songs mentioned in this chapter are Back to Black by Amy Winehouse (with minor lyric revisions) and Sorry Not Sorry by Demi Lovato. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated and thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Shorter chapter, but faster update. This chapter is definitely rated, so please heed the rating. I hope you all enjoy! I received a review after the last chapter that I wanted to address to clear up any confusion about my characterization. Feel free to just skip ahead to the story if you would like!

It is not my intention to portray any of the characters negatively, in fact, I try to keep it as close to the way they are portrayed in the show as possible. I definitely do not want Santana to come across as a creepy stalker, although I will admit she comes very close in this chapter. However, it is my perception that she is someone who would act first and deal with consequences later. In the show, she is portrayed very much as someone who goes after what they want regardless of consequences (e.g., convincing Brittany that sleeping with her didn't count as cheating on Artie). You may disagree and that is fine, but I just wanted to add a bit more background as to how I am writing the characters in this story. If you have questions about my characterization or elements of the story, I encourage you to PM me! I've very friendly and always happy to address concerns or provide more explanation.

* * *

A week had passed since Dani unexpectedly made out with her ex-girlfriend and she finally felt like things were returning to normal. At the start of the week, she'd been bombarded with memories and reminders of the evening and found her thoughts drifting back to what went down in the dressing room. Trying to sustain her attention long enough to actually be productive had been nearly impossible.

The distracting thoughts of Santana became less and less frequent as the week progressed. Dani forced herself to pay attention to her work and spend less time reflecting on her conversation with Santana, wondering where her ex was and what she was doing.

By the time Saturday rolled around, Dani was relieved to be free from the constant thoughts of her ex and was actually able to work with her band members to collaborate on a new song. They were still in the beginning stages of composing, which meant long and frustrating hours were spent holed up in their studio space.

"Can we take a break for dinner?" Pete asked as he put his guitar down and stood up to stretch, "Because I'm about five seconds away from beating the shit out of Toby if he takes another picture of us."

The bassist frowned as he looked over at his band mate, "Dude, I'm just trying to keep our fans in the loop. Nowadays, you have to have a strong social media presence to get anywhere in this industry."

"I swear to god, Toby. If you take another picture and spend five minutes deciding which filter captures your hipster vibe the best, I will smack you," Pete warned, pointing a finger at the other man.

"Alright, calm down," Dani glanced between her band members, "Pete, why don't you and Max go pick up Chinese food. Toby, finish doing whatever the hell you're doing to those pictures - but those are the last ones tonight, okay?"

The guys begrudgingly agreed, Max and Pete grabbed their jackets and left while Toby busied himself with his phone.

Dani knew the stress of a long day was getting to everyone, but she was tired of being the peacekeeper. She was busy daydreaming of returning home and cuddling up in her bed when her peaceful thoughts were disrupted by the studio's receptionist popping her head in the door.

"Dani, someone's here to see you. I'm sorry, I didn't get their name." The frazzled receptionist looked as exhausted as Dani felt, so she gave the woman a warm smile.

"No problem, I'll be right out," she put her notepad aside and stood up, glancing over at Toby, "You okay here?"

The bassist gave a dismissive wave as he continued staring intently at his phone. Dani chuckled as she exited the room and made her way towards the reception area.

The blonde stopped in her tracks as soon as she caught sight of the woman waiting in the reception area, "Santana?"

Her ex turned towards her and smiled as she made her way over to the surprised blonde. "I'm digging this look," she commented as she waved a hand towards Dani, who was dressed casually in ripped jeans and a white v-neck with her blonde hair tied up into a messy bun, "Very different from Saturday, but still sexy."

Dani blinked in response, wondering if her non-stop thoughts of her ex had manifested into a full blown hallucination. However, she knew it was all too real because she wasn't nearly sleep deprived enough to be hallucinating, "Are you stalking me now?"

Santana quirked an eyebrow at the response, "Hardly. You do realize your bassist has been posting photos tagged with your location on Instagram all day?"

"Yeah, that's like the exact definition of stalking," Dani replied, noticing how the receptionist was glancing over towards them with a worried expression.

"Should I call security?" The receptionist asked her, visibly anxious at the idea of involving security guards.

Dani smirked as she glanced at Santana, she had to admit, the idea of watching her ex being thrown out on her ass by security was very tempting. Before she could reply, Santana had turned to face the nervous receptionist.

"Oh please, honey. If you think I'm going to let some balding, ten-dollar-an-hour, rent-a-cop get close enough to even think about touching me, you have clearly never been to Lima Heights."

"W-where?" The receptionist asked, clearly startled and a bit confused by the confrontation.

"Santana," Dani scolded as she grabbed her ex's wrist and tugged gently, trying to lead her away from a potentially awkward and unnecessary scene. "I'm fine, thank you," she said with a brief nod towards the receptionist before leading Santana down the hall. Because it was so late, the studio was nearly deserted apart from the room her band had been working in all day. Dani glanced into an empty studio, making sure it showed no signs of activity before dragging Santana in behind her and shutting the door for privacy.

"Hmm soundproof room, I like your thinking," Santana said as she glanced around the small sound booth.

Dani rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms, "Santana, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Don't act so surprised to see me," Santana admonished as she turned back to face her ex, "With the way you left on Saturday, you should only be surprised it took this long."

Dani fought the urge to smirk as she crossed her arms, "You know that what I said wasn't an invitation to pick up where we left off, right?"

"Really? Because if I'm remembering correctly, you were very, very into what we were doing last week." Santana let her gaze drift over Dani's figure, a smug smile playing at her lips.

"Oh I was," Dani said with a nod, "Like I said, it was fun. But it was a one-time thing."

Santana scowled for a brief moment, not used to being rejected. As quick as the scowl appeared, it was replaced with a flirty smile, "You look so tense, Dani. I can help relieve some of that tension…" Santana let her offer linger as she trailed a finger along the V of Dani's shirt.

The blonde felt her pulse pick up as her ex once again invaded her personal space. She found herself overwhelmed by her presence - being confronted up close by Santana's flawless appearance combined with the familiar scent of her perfume and the gentle, yet familiar caress of her hand was enough to spike Dani's arousal level nearly as high as it had been the previous week.

As if the other woman could hear the lust-filled thoughts running through Dani's mind, Santana leaned in before the blonde could respond and began placing hot, fervent kisses along her neck.

Dani couldn't help the surprised moan that escaped her; she immediately brought her hands to her ex's shoulders, intending to push her away, but as Santana sucked roughly on a a sensitive spot just under her ear, Dani instead squeezed Santana's shoulders roughly, letting out a longer, throatier moan.

Spurred on by the response, Santana continued kissing along Dani's neck, placing well timed nips and teasing her tongue along sensitive areas of the blonde's neck.

Dani bit down on her lower lip to keep herself from letting any more moans escape - not that she was worried about being overheard since they were in a soundproof room, but so that Santana wouldn't get the satisfaction of hearing her moan. However, that didn't seem to slow the other woman down as she soon slipped her hands under the hem of the white V-neck, letting her hands rest on the blonde's hips.

As hard as Dani was trying to keep her reactions in check, she couldn't help the way her hips bucked forward as Santana began to drag her nails down her stomach. Both women had always enjoyed mixing a little pain with pleasure and it seemed Santana was still well aware of how Dani's body reacted to scratching.

As Santana began to move her kisses down along the skin exposed by the V of her shirt, Dani let her head fall back against the wall. Closing her eyes to try and block out a fraction of the excessive stimulation and think clearly.

Santana clearly had other plans though as she used one had to tug Dani's shirt down, revealing the swell of her breasts peeking out of the top of her bra. As Santana began to explore the newly revealed area with her mouth, she slid a hand down to unbutton Dani's jeans.

Dani fought hard to keep her hips still as she felt Santana undo the button to her jeans before slowly dragging the zipper down. She knew she should put an end to this. All it would take would be pushing Santana away, telling her to leave, and the rejoining her band to continue working on their new song.

Yet, even though Dani knew what she should do, the rational part of her brain wasn't currently in control of her actions. As much as she hated to admit Santana had been right, the truth was that Dani was incredibly tense. It wasn't just from the stressful day of work with her band, nor was it entirely due to the distracting week following her make out session with Santana on Saturday. Sure, kissing her ex last week certainly hadn't helped relieve any sort of tension, but Dani knew that it had only escalated the sexual frustration she'd been experiencing for months. Since Santana left her, Dani's sex life had consisted of a string of hook ups that left her feeling disappointed in one way or another. The last time she had been thoroughly and completely satisfied after sex had been with Santana. Which is why the part of her brain fueled by lust had decided to take over and prevent her from doing what she knew the right thing would be.

"It seems I haven't lost my touch if this is anything to go by," Santana teased as she ran her fingers over Dani's soaked panties. The blonde let a moan escape as she lifted her head from the wall to look at the smirking woman in front of her.

"Hey San," she said with a sweet smile as she used the hand still resting on Santana's shoulder to push her down, "Why don't you put your mouth to better use," she instructed, her breath hitching as she saw the look of pure lust replace the teasing smirk on Santana's face. She hadn't forgotten how turned on Santana would get by being controlled in the bedroom, although the reminder made Dani even more aroused and desperate for her touch.

She watched as Santana began to slide her jeans down and helped the effort by kicking off her shoes before stepping out of her pants. Dani couldn't help the smirk that spread across her face as her ex got down on her knees in front of her. Dani's breath escaped her in a low moan as Santana leaned in to run her tongue along her slit.

The sound seemed to spur Santana on as she glanced up to hold Dani's gaze before moving back in to take another slow lick before focusing her attention on her clit. The blonde found herself unable to look away from her ex, the intensity and passion in Santana's expression serving to only heighten the experience for Dani.

As Santana sucked the blonde's clit between her lips, Dani groaned and moved her hand to tangle in Santana's long locks, keeping the other woman close. Her ex took hold of her thigh and moved it to rest against her shoulder, further opening Dani up for her eager mouth to explore.

"Fuck," Dani moaned, knowing that the whispered curse would only boost her ex's confidence; however, it was hard not to comment when Santana was eating her pussy with an intensity unlike she had ever experienced.

She could tell Santana was holding herself back from making a comment, which she greatly appreciated. Her short nails scraped along Santana's scalp, eliciting a moan. Dani grinned at the sound before closing her eyes and letting her head slip back to rest against the wall so she could focus on the pleasure she was receiving.

Santana dragged her nails up along Dani's thigh before slowly sliding a single finger into her. Dani's accompanying whimper at the sensation was enough to give Santana the go ahead to begin moving her finger, slowly fucking the blonde.

Dani couldn't help but buck her hips, wanting more than the slow pace Santana was currently torturing her with. Fortunately, her ex didn't seem to be in the mood to prolong the torture and picked up her pace, delivering a series of rapid licks to Dani's clit while sliding a second finger into her.

The blonde moaned at the increase in pace as she continued to run her nails along Santana's scalp while using her free hand to grip her own blonde hair tightly. "Fuck yes, right there," she encouraged in a breathy moan as Santana's fingers started to hit her in just the right place.

The whimpers and moans escaping her lips began to increase in frequency as Santana brought Dani closer and closer to her climax. The blonde could tell the much needed release was going to be better than anything she'd experienced in a long time. Her hips began to buck in time with the thrust of Santana's fingers as she tightened her grip on Santana's hair.

"I wanna watch you come for me," Santana instructed as she waited for Dani's dazed gaze to meet her own before leaning back in to pay fervent attention to her clit, refusing to break eye contact with the blonde.

Dani gasped at the overwhelming sensation of being on the edge while holding Santana's gaze. A well-placed thrust of her fingers sent her over the edge and she tightened the grip on her own hair as she let out a loud moan followed by a low 'fuck' as Santana continued to slowly move her fingers, working the blonde down from her orgasm.

Dani leaned back against the wall, not trusting her legs to support her as they trembled with the after-effects of her powerful climax. She could tell Santana was watching her, but didn't need to look at her ex to know she was sporting a proud smirk. As Dani continued to slowly descend from her high, she knew that for the second time in only a week she had given her ex exactly what she wanted. She could feel the disappointment in herself begin to seep in, dampening her euphoria. She didn't know how she could possibly recover the upper hand in this situation after she'd just let Santana go down on her and bring her to what was obviously a very satisfying finish.

She reminded herself that technically she hadn't given Santana everything she wanted - at least not yet. With that thought in mind, she pushed herself off of the wall she was resting on. In an unhurried, yet deliberate manner she picked up her jeans from the floor and stepped back into them.

"What are you doing?" Santana asked, rising to her feet as she watched the blonde button her pants.

Dani glanced over to where her ex was watching her with a confused expression. "Getting dressed," she glanced down to hide her smirk as she bent down to put her shoes back on.

"Do you think we're done here?" Santana demanded as she crossed her arms.

The blonde furrowed her brow as she glanced back up and pretended to consider the question as she adjusted her shirt to cover her bra, "Hmm, well I know that I'm done here." She replied as she glanced back down at herself to make sure everything was in order. "But thanks for stopping by." She shot the shocked and annoyed woman a smile as she turned to head for the exit. As she pulled the heavy door open, she paused and glanced back over, "Oh, and just so we're clear - this isn't an invitation to come back."

With that, Dani stepped out into the hall and quickly made her way back to her band.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review or PM me if you have any thoughts/questions/comments about the story!

By the way, I probably should have mentioned this at the start of the last chapter, but if you are someone who is very uncomfortable with cheating in relationships - this story is not for you.


	5. Chapter 5

Dani was furious with herself over the next several days after her latest encounter with Santana. The previous week was bad enough when she'd merely been reminded of her steamy make out session with her ex, but now she was bombarded with constant flashbacks and thoughts of Santana going down on her.

She knew even when it was happening that it was a mistake. She shouldn't have given Santana that kind of power over her. What made it even worse was that it happened to be the best orgasm Dani had experienced in a long time; the memories of it left her simultaneously turned on and frustrated because it wasn't going to happen again.

It would have been slightly more bearable if she had someone to confide in, but her close friends were few and far between. Although she loved her band mates and trusted them, she wasn't about to fill them in on what happened between her and her ex. Besides the inconvenience of having to provide them the background of her complicated relationship with Santana, they were a bunch of straight dudes and likely would only be interested in getting details about the hook up rather than actually offering useful advice or support.

Typically, she would go to Elliott to complain about her girl troubles since he wasn't interested in getting the details of an encounter and he was a really good listener. However, she could tell he was disappointed in her the other day for even kissing Santana. No doubt he would be less than understanding about her letting her ex eat her out, even if she had kind of managed to reclaim some control over the situation at the very end. She was receiving enough torment from her own thoughts and reflections without being reprimanded by Elliott over how the situation played out.

Most of all, she was frustrated with the tiny part of herself that was hoping Santana would come back. She half expected her ex to show up at the studio again, but five days had passed and there was no sign of her or any mention from the receptionist that anyone had stopped by looking for her when she wasn't there. Dani hated that there was a part of her that wanted Santana to be so caught up in her that she would keep trying despite Dani's attempt to act disinterested in any sort of reconciliation - platonic or otherwise.

As Dani let herself into her apartment after a long day of work, she found herself once again lost in thoughts of her ex. She was grateful to find the apartment empty - one of her roommates was away for the week on a business trip, while the other had texted earlier to let Dani know she was staying at her boyfriend's for the night. Dani was always glad to have a night to herself. Although she liked her roommates well enough, the living situation was more out of convenience to split the high cost of rent in the city as opposed to living with actual friends. With such different work schedules and friend groups, she didn't spend much time bonding with her roommates, which she regretted in that moment because it was yet another missed opportunity to have someone to share her frustrations with.

After taking a long, hot shower, Dani returned to her bedroom to change into her pajamas. As she debated whether or not to just go to bed and get an early start on the next day or stay up to work on some of her in-progress songs, her phone began to ring.

Dani glanced over at her phone, frowning when it was an unknown number. She debated letting it go, but it was too late for telemarketers to be calling. After the third ring, Dani hesitantly picked up her phone and swiped to answer, "Hello?"

"I'm surprised you didn't block my number."

Dani raised her eyebrows in surprise, not having expected to recognize the mystery caller. After the break-up, she had deleted Santana's contact in her phone to prevent herself from making future drunk calls, but hadn't considered blocking the number. "Who is this?" She asked, knowing that pretending not to recognize the voice would piss off her ex.

"Oh please, you know who this is."

Dani smirked, her feigned ignorance clearly getting at the other girl, "I think you might have the wrong number."

"Well then, let me give you a reminder. I'm the girl who ate you out so good the other day, you had trouble standing after."

Dani bit her lip, trying to prevent any audible reaction whether it be a whimper at the reminder or a chuckle at how frustrated Santana was, "I'm sorry, you'll have to be more specific…"

There was a pause on the other end of the line, before Santana spoke up again, "You think you're so funny."

"I mean, yeah." Dani admitted with a chuckle, unable to maintain the charade ay longer without breaking.

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you," Santana admitted, her tone quickly changing from irritated to sultry.

"Oh yeah?" Dani asked, knowing she was getting into dangerous territory. She reminded herself she shouldn't even have stayed on the phone this long in the first place. However, she couldn't deny that she had always been instinctively drawn to Santana. "Why is that?"

"Because you drive me crazy, Dani," Santana replied, nearly moaning the words over the phone. "It was hard enough to get you out of my head after your show, but the other night at the studio…you were so damn sexy. You're all I can think about."

Dani tried to remain strong despite hearing the words that were intended to flatter her and weaken her resolve, "Oh, so it isn't because I left twice without getting you off?"

There was a brief pause, the other woman clearly not expecting such a blunt response. "We both know I'd be lying if I said I haven't been thinking about you returning the favor. In fact, I've been fantasizing all day about having your mouth on me and your fingers inside me…but I also want to fuck you again, properly this time. I want to take my time and make you come over and over again."

Dani's eyes slipped closed and she swallowed as she imagined the things Santana was describing. She knew she shouldn't be falling for this; she needed to be stronger than this. But Santana's words brought back the memories of the previous Saturday full force and she was already turned on picturing her ex's head between her thighs.

Taking Dani's silence as an indication that the blonde was very much affected by her words, Santana continued, "Are you at home, Dani?"

"Yeah," the blonde answered, hating how breathy her response sounded.

"Are you alone?"

Dani nodded, letting out a hum of confirmation to respond to the question, no longer trusting her voice with how turned on she was getting from the call.

"Let me come over, Dani. I want to show you just how much I've missed you."

Dani chewed on her lip as the now familiar internal battle raged inside her. However, she didn't reflect on her options for too long, because she knew which part of her would win. "Don't keep me waiting, Santana."

The response was almost immediate, "Are you still in the same apartment?"

"Be here in ten minutes or I'll take matters into my own hands." Dani warned before ending the call. She knew she was bluffing and that if Santana was still living with Rachel and Kurt in the same loft as before, it would take at least 15 minutes to get to her place. However, she wanted to present Santana with a challenge to see how desperate her ex was for her.

She went into her bathroom to get ready for the unexpected visit and was a little surprised to hear a knock at the front door less than ten minutes after the call ended. Dani made her way to the door, wondering if someone else had decided to stop by at a very inopportune time. However, a quick glance through the peephole confirmed it was her ex on the other side of the door.

"You made great time." Dani announced, her tone conveying her surprise at the other girl's arrival.

"I was highly motivated." Santana replied with a smirk.

Dani considered the vague explanation, but giving the relatively composed state of her ex, she highly doubted the quick arrival was the result of hurrying. She wondered if Santana had already been close by when she had called.

"Are you going to let me in, or just stare at me all night?" Santana questioned, her lips quirking into a smile as she leaned against the doorway.

"Still deciding," Dani shot back, a teasing smile playing at her lips.

"Let me help you make up your mind," Santana said before closing the space between them and kissing Dani hard.

Dani returned the kiss, grateful that Santana made the first move and prevented any prolonged awkwardness or small talk. As Santana attempted to pull her closer, Dani broke the kiss and stepped away. She tried not to smile at the adorably confused look on her ex's face as she gently pulled her into the apartment so she could close the door. Without saying a word, Dani took Santana's hand and led her towards her bedroom.

She noticed Santana glancing around at the room, no doubt examining what was the same or different from the last time she'd been there. She was glad that the other girl didn't comment on anything; an acknowledgment of the familiarity of the surroundings would only serve as an uncomfortable reminder of their relationship status.

"So you haven't been able to stop thinking about me?" Dani asked, recalling their earlier conversation on the phone.

Santana smirked as she faced her ex, "I keep thinking about how hot you looked pressed up against the wall while I was on my knees, my tongue between your thighs."

Dani bit her lower lip, recalling the all too familiar visual. "And now you want me to return the favor?"

"Eventually," Santana said with a shrug as she took a step closer to her ex. "But first I want to make you come for me again."

Dani's eyebrows raised, not expecting that response. It was a smart move, Santana obviously knew that if she asked to get off first, Dani would have taken control and prolonged the experience to torture and tease her ex. However, this was something Dani wasn't prepared for and found herself getting even more aroused at the thought of Santana taking care of her again.

Santana leaned in and captured Dani's lips in another heated kiss. As soon as the blonde began to actively respond to the kiss, Santana moved to undo the tie on her sweatpants.

Dani pulled back and maintained eye contact with her ex as she pushed her pants down her thighs. "What are you waiting for, Lopez? Strip." Dani instructed before pulling her shirt over her head.

Santana eagerly began removing her own clothes as she continued to check out the blonde who was working on removing her bra.

Dani knew this encounter was intended as a release of sexual tension for both women, so she wanted to forgo prolonged foreplay and drawn out removal of articles of clothing. She let her gaze drift over Santana, letting herself get reacquainted with the sight of her ex's body.

After removing her last piece of clothing, Dani moved to the bed and laid back against the pillows, enjoying the sight of Santana shimmying out of her skinny jeans. "If you added some music, this would be a hell of a show.

"You'd love that," Santana shot back unclasping her bra and removing the garment before pushing her panties down her hips.

"I really would," Dani replied with a grin, her gaze running over Santana's curves. "This is good too though." She said, waving a hand towards the other woman's now naked body as she crawled towards Dani on the bed.

"Oh, I'm way better than good," Santana replied, as she placed her hands on Dani's thighs, encouraging her ex to allow her access.

Dani found herself unable to think of a sarcastic comment as she was overwhelmed with lust from the way Santana was looking at her.

"Speechless, huh? Not for long." Santana promised before repositioning herself and leaning in to take a slow lick along Dani's folds.

Dani trapped her lower lip between her teeth, refusing to allow Santana the satisfaction of hearing her moans - at least, not yet.

Her silence did not deter her ex, who continued to leisurely explore Dani with her tongue. After a moment of teasing her clit with the gentlest of strokes, she slid her tongue lower to circle her opening.

Dani whimpered at the change of sensation and tangled a fist in her sheets. Her grip on the covers tightened at the feel of Santana's tongue pressing into her and she let out a low moan.

Spurred on by the reaction, Santana used her tongue to thrust in and out of Dani as much as she could. Her hands slipped under the blonde's ass, tilting her hips up to allow her tongue to explore at a better angle.

Dani groaned at the sensation and glanced down to watch her ex, who was intently focusing on giving her pleasure. The sight brought a smile to Dani's face that was quickly wiped away with another moan as Santana managed to get her tongue even further.

After another moment, Santana pulled back and replaced her tongue with two fingers, starting a slow and steady rhythm. She watched as the blonde writhed beneath her, trying to maintain control over her body's reactions to what Santana was doing to her.

"Don't hold back." Santana demanded as she increased the pace of her fingers, "Hearing you is so incredibly sexy." Her comment elicited a moan from Dani, so Santana kept going. "It's so fucking hot when you buck against my hand…or my face. It gets me so wet, Dani."

Santana had a satisfied smirk on her face as the blonde let out another moan and her hips bucked up in response to the dirty talk. She slipped a third finger inside, causing Dani to gasp and begin thrusting her hips in rhythm with Santana's hand.

"You feel so good around my fingers," Santana moaned as she leaned in to start kissing along Dani's breasts.

The blonde whimpered in response, continuing to rock herself against Santana's hand in an attempt to reach her climax.

Santana sucked one of Dani's nipples into her mouth, trapping the hardening bud between her teeth and teasing it with her tongue. After eliciting a loud, appreciative moan from Dani, she moved over to give the same attention to her other breast.

Dani used the hand that wasn't tangled tightly in sheets to hold Santana's head in place as she bucked her hips, nearing her climax.

Santana seemed to catch on that her ex was close and quickened her pace, using her thumb to brush against Dani's clit as she continued to tease the nipple trapped between her teeth.

Dani's orgasm hit her hard and left her breathless, unable to even utter a moan at the intensity of the effect on her body. She was panting for air as Santana slowed the thrusting of her hand, gently helping Dani come down from the intense experience.

"Damn, that was hot." Santana commented as she removed her fingers from Dani's still quaking core. She made sure the blonde's gaze was on her as she slipped the wet fingers into her mouth to clean them.

Dani moaned at the visual, still reeling from the effects of her high as she reached for Santana's wrist to pull her into a bruising kiss. Santana eagerly returned the kiss, laying half on top of the blonde as they exchanged increasingly passionate kisses. After several minutes, Dani pushed Santana away and onto her back.

She was startled by the intense lust reflected in her ex's eyes as she straddled her and was certain she had never seen her this turned on before. She knew that after having worked Santana up twice and denying her release, her ex was more than ready for her.

Dani leaned in to continue kissing her ex as her hand slid down Santana's front, nails scraping over her torso. She eased up on the scratching as she neared where Santana needed her most and used two fingers to circle Santana's clit. She quickly realized her ex needed more than the gentle teasing she was currently tormenting her with and applied more pressure to the other woman's clit as she sped up her movements.

"Fuck, yes!" Santana encouraged, her eyes slipping closed as her hips bucked up against Dani's hand.

Dani hadn't realized just how much she had missed having sex with Santana until she watched her reactions. Santana was always gorgeous, but there were no words to describe how she looked while being driven closer and closer to orgasm.

"Dani, I need your mouth on me." Santana pleaded, opening her eyes to meet the gaze of her ex.

Although part of Dani wanted to tease Santana and make her really beg, the intensity of the other woman's gaze was enough to make her simply nod and adjust her position. She removed her fingers from Santana, eliciting a frustrated sigh that turned into a long moan as Dani sucked Santana's clit into her mouth. After teasing the sensitive nub with the tip of her tongue to the point where Santana was writhing with pleasure, Dani switched to hard and fast licks, knowing that was the way to really drive her ex crazy.

Santana groaned and twisted her fingers into the blonde hair, sending the message that Dani better not have any plans of leaving.

Dani wrapped one hand around Santana's thigh to keep her ex from moving too much. She slid her other hand up Santana's thigh, over her stomach and up to her breast, pulling and teasing her nipple for a moment before scratching roughly down the length of her torso. Her roughness had the desired effect of causing Santana's back to arch and her grip on Dani's hair to tighten.

She could tell Santana was close and wanted to make sure she gave her that extra bit of pleasure the way Santana had done for her. She continued her fast pace on Santana's clit until she could tell her ex was hovering on the edge. In a quick move, she roughly dug her nails into Santana's inner thigh with the hand keeping her in place while using her other hand to twist one of Santana's nipples. The double assault worked to drive Santana to her climax, her ex coming with a loud shout of Dani's name before sinking heavily down into the bed.

Dani grinned at the response, continuing to gently tease Santana's clit despite her aching jaw until Santana pulled her away to give the sensitive area a rest. Dani settled on her side, facing Santana whose eyes were closed as she tried to gain control of her breathing.

"Worth the wait?"

Santana's eyes opened, but quickly narrowed at the teasing smirk on Dani's face. "It would have been better without the wait."

Dani grinned as she reached over to run her fingers along the red lines forming on Santana's side from where her nails had left their mark, "Hmm, I don't think that's true. The wait definitely added something."

Santana rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the small contented smile forming on her face.

"So now what?" Dani asked, wondering what would happen now that her ex had gotten what she wanted.

"I'm not sure. To be honest, I'm surprised you haven't left yet," Santana shot back, reminding Dani of the two times she had left prior to this encounter.

"Well it is my apartment, so it'd be a little weird for me to leave," Dani pointed out with a smirk, receiving an unamused look from her ex. "But if I'm being honest…I think rather than ending our night here, we should keep going…that is, if you have it in you. I know I wore you out with that last round."

Santana smirked at her ex as she turned on her side to face her, "You know me better than that, Dani."

The blonde chuckled, "In that case, I'll grab us a couple waters. Don't want you getting dehydrated and passing out on me," Dani teased as she got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen, grateful once again that her roommates were out so she didn't have to worry about getting dressed.

When she returned to her room, she noticed Santana standing by her discarded clothes with her phone in hand, but didn't question the behavior, knowing how attached her ex was to her phone. She handed a water bottle over to Santana who readily accepted it.

"So where were we?" Santana asked as she finished taking a sip of her water and placed it on the nightstand along with her phone.

"I believe," Dani started as she made her way over to the bed, "That you were just about to sit on my face and let me taste you again."

Santana's eyes darkened as a smirk formed on her face and she let Dani pull her closer.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review to let me know your thoughts. Thank you to everyone who has left a review so far, I really appreciate hearing your feedback!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I decided to combine two shorter sections into one chapter, so there's a bit of a time jump in the middle of this chapter. I tried to make the jump pretty clear so as not to cause any confusion, but just be aware it does skip forward about six weeks.

* * *

When Santana awoke the next morning, she was confused by her surroundings, but only until she caught sight of the woman asleep next to her. A smile spread across her face, but quickly disappeared when she realized she didn't know what time it was or if anyone had been trying to get ahold of her.

She got out of bed carefully so as not to wake her peacefully sleeping ex. She noticed she had several missed texts from various people, but ignored them for the time being and focused on the one missed call. After getting dressed in her clothes from the night before as quietly as she could, she slipped out of the room to return the missed call.

"Why does Rachel think you're staying with me?" Quinn answered after the second ring, ignoring pleasantries and skipping straight to what she wanted to know, in typical Quinn fashion.

"You covered for me, right?" Santana asked, panic creeping into her voice.

"Of course I did," Quinn scoffed as if offended by the question, "But I want to know why you needed to use me as an alibi."

Santana bit her lip, knowing she couldn't tell Quinn the truth. "It's no big deal, I just needed a night away from the hobbit, you know how she can be. So I texted her last night to let her know I was visiting you."

"So where did you stay then?" Quinn asked, her tone indicating that she wasn't buying Santana's nonchalant attitude.

"If you must know, I was out all night. I went clubbing before holing up in a 24-hour diner to eat and refuel. I've been wandering around to coffee shops, trying to stay awake until everyone leaves for the day so I can go back to the loft and crash in peace." Santana knew it was certainly an odd explanation, but Quinn would easily be able to catch her in a lie if she claimed to have stayed at a friend's place. Mostly because she didn't have any other friends in the city and even if she did, there was no good reason she would have had to lie to Rachel about staying with Quinn instead of this supposed friend. The only reason she would lie about staying with someone was if she was doing something she shouldn't.

There was a drawn out silence as Quinn seemed to be considering whether or not to accept Santana's explanation. Just as Santana was about to embellish on the cover story, Quinn spoke up, "Next time, save yourself the hassle and come stay with me."

Santana felt relief wash over her and she smiled into the phone, "Sounds like a plan. Thanks again for covering, Q."

"Oh, and Santana," Quinn said, letting another moment lapse to be sure she had her friend's attention, "Whatever it is you're doing better not hurt anyone I care about."

Santana felt her heart rate pick up at the vague comment that was phrased as a warning. "No need to worry," Santana replied, feeling slightly guilty about the response. She told herself it wasn't really a lie, because in her mind this was something Quinn shouldn't be worrying about. It was her life to live, not Quinn's.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later."

"Bye," Santana replied before hanging up the phone. She entered the bathroom and leaned heavily against the sink, feeling the weight of the phone call crash down on her. She knew she should be worried about the conversation she'd just had and the many thoughts and feelings it stirred up, but for some reason, she couldn't find it in her to be bothered by those emotions as she focused on the pleasant soreness in various areas of her body.

Memories of the night before came rushing back, causing Santana to grin. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been up all night having sex and her body was clearly exhausted from the exertion. Santana knew she was in good shape and far more flexible than most women, so her level of soreness was an indication that she'd been very thoroughly satisfied last night rather than discomfort from the positions she'd gotten herself into.

As she was fixing her appearance as best she could without having access to any of her own toiletries, she heard movement in the apartment and figured Dani had finally woken up. She finished doing what she could to fix her hair before stepping outside the bathroom.

Santana made her way to the kitchen where she saw a sleepy Dani stumbling through the process of starting a pot of coffee. She smiled at the adorable sight, observing for a minute before moving closer and leaning against the counter, "Morning."

Dani glanced over and gave her a small smile, her face giving away her surprise at seeing the woman beside her. "Hey," Dani returned the greeting, her voice still thick with sleep, "I thought you left." She added as she glanced down Santana's fully clothed body, which stood in contrast to her pajama clad state of dress.

Santana realized that everything she'd brought with her had either been in her pants pockets or in the purse she'd left by the front door, so it was easy to see how Dani could have come to that conclusion. She shook her head, almost shyly, "Is it okay that I'm still here?"

Dani smiled at the timid question and nodded, "Of course, I wasn't exactly about to kick you out after last night. If I'm being honest, I'm a little surprised you can still walk." She added the last part with a playful wink as she finished setting up the coffee pot and turned to face Santana.

Santana chuckled at that, knowing that Dani had been in an incredibly giving mood last night. Even though they'd both had their fair share of orgasms - Santana had lost track after her fifth sometime around 2am - Dani had been very enthusiastic about pleasing Santana in a variety of ways. "I'm not gonna lie, it's a bit of a struggle." Santana teased back as she made her way closer to her ex. When she reached Dani, she paused for a moment before slowly leaning in to kiss the blonde. As she closed the distance between them, she noticed the hesitation on Dani's face, but they both responded to the kiss, keeping it a soft and sweet kiss good morning.

As Santana was wondering what was behind the hesitation in Dani's response to the kiss, she realized it was likely because of the bizarre series of events over the past few days. Although Dani had clearly given in to Santana's advances last night, it was still very unclear what exactly was going on. She wondered if Dani thought this meant they were getting back together and quickly pulled away from the kiss.

Panic and confusion set in as Santana realized she had no idea what last night meant or what she wanted it to mean. Wanting to avoid Dani's gaze in case the blonde could detect her sudden shift in mood, Santana began wandering around the small apartment. She noticed it looked very different from how she remembered it the last time she was there nearly a year ago.

She could feel Dani watching her as she walked around and eventually turned to face the blonde as soon as her moment of panic had dissipated, "Interesting decor…new roommate?"

Dani frowned before glancing around to figure out what had prompted the question. She must have soon realized that the boho tapestries, pillows, and curtains that dotted the apartment were not there the last time Santana had visited the apartment - and they certainly weren't Dani's style.

"Yeah, both new, actually," she confirmed. "Tara's a bit of a free spirt," she explained as she gestured to the decor, "And I don't think Todd has spent enough time inside the apartment to consider spending money to decorate."

Santana nodded at the first part, but raised an eyebrow at the second, "Todd? I didn't realize the lady-loving Dani was open to male roommates."

"Well, considering I don't sleep with my roommates, it hasn't turned out to be much of an issue," Dani teased.

"Is he straight?" Santana questioned as she wandered around the living room.

"He is," Dani replied, a confused frown forming on her face.

"You know he's totally jacked it to you, right?" Santana asked as she glanced over her shoulder at the blonde.

"What?" Dani asked, a laugh escaping her before she fixed Santana with an amused smirk.

"Come on, straight guy living with a hot lesbian? If I were you, I'd check your room for cameras." Santana muttered as she picked up a soy candle from the bookshelf and inspected it.

"Okay, weirdo." Dani replied, shaking her head at her ex's comments. "Are you, like, jealous of him?"

"Of course not." Santana replied as she replaced the candle and turned around, "I just think you should be careful around straight men."

"I was joking earlier, but you know I'm not actually going to have sex with my roommates, right?"

"About the other one - Tara," Santana continued as she cautiously picked up a pillow as if it might hurt her, "Is she a lesbian, too?"

Dani crossed her arms as she eyed her ex, "Straight, with a boyfriend."

Santana hummed thoughtfully as she dropped the pillow back on the couch.

"What's with the interrogation about my roommates?" Dani asked, her expression conveying her confusion over the situation.

Santana shrugged as she began making her way back towards the kitchen, having run out of other areas to explore in the small apartment, "You can never be too careful, you know?"

"You're so odd," Dani replied, but a smile played at her lips as she poured two cups of coffee and offered one to Santana, who accepted with an appreciative smile.

Silence fell over the two women as they sipped their coffee. Santana knew she should have left by now - probably before Dani even woke up. But the way the late morning sun filtered in through the kitchen windows caused Dani's blonde hair to turn golden in the light; she looked like an ethereal goddess and Santana wished she could stay in this peaceful moment forever.

The unspoken question about what the previous night meant hung heavily in the room as both women seemed to be actively avoiding it. Santana was distracted by her phone vibrating in her back pocket and she hesitantly pulled it out, nervous to see who was texting her. She was relieved to see Rachel's name pop up on the screen and realized that was the first time she'd ever had that reaction to getting a text from Berry.

 _Rachel (10:13am): Do you have your keys? I don't want to lock you out if you forgot them again_

She rolled her eyes before sending a reply back.

 _Santana (10:14am): Yes._

 _Rachel (10:14am): Great! Say hi to Quinn for me!_

Santana felt a bit guilty as she put her phone into her pocket and glanced up at Dani.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just Rachel being an annoying hobbit. Nothing new there."

Dani chuckled, which caused Santana to smirk at the sound. She reluctantly placed her coffee mug on the counter before glancing up at Dani, "I should probably go."

Dani nodded and Santana noticed she seemed to be intentionally keeping her face devoid of any reaction to the announcement. The blonde followed her to the door, unlocking it and holding it open for her ex, but leaning casually against the door as if she wasn't in any rush for Santana to leave.

"I had an amazing night," Santana said as she faced Dani, feeling as if she was saying goodbye after a first date.

"Oh, I know," Dani replied with a smug wink, causing Santana to chuckle and shove her shoulder playfully.

"I'll see you around?" Santana asked, knowing the comment was vague but hopefully conveyed that she wanted to see the blonde again, even if she didn't know exactly what she wanted from her.

Dani studied her face for a moment before nodding, "Sounds good."

"Bye Dani," Santana leaned in for a final kiss before stepping out into the hallway and heading towards the stairs. She heard the front door shut gently behind her.

Santana opted to take the subway home, it was past the morning rush and the distraction of being around other people helped to keep her mind off her current situation. However, as soon as she returned to the loft and found it empty, she was left with only her thoughts. As she curled up on the couch, struggling to figure out why she got herself into this mess and what exactly she was hoping to get out of it, she realized that her thoughts kept turning back to Dani and the previous night. If there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that she needed to see Dani again soon.

* * *

 _Santana (9:52pm): Are your roommates home?_

Dani smirked as she read the message, the meaning behind Santana's text very apparent.

 _Dani (9:53pm): One is out for the night, the other took NyQuil half an hour ago and is snoring heavily. Very sexy._

 _Santana (9:53pm): I'm coming over. I have a surprise for you._

At this point, Dani wasn't the least bit vexed by Santana inviting herself over whenever she deemed the conditions conducive to having sex. Since one of Dani's roommates worked from home, the unspoken agreement was that daytime hook ups happened at the loft, while evening activities always occurred at Dani's place whenever her roommates were not around.

Dani tossed her phone on the bed as she went into the bathroom to get ready for whatever Santana had in store for her. This series of events felt almost routine at this point - Santana would text her asking about the status of her roommates, if Dani was sure they would have some privacy, Santana would be on her way while Dani took the time to freshen up. Of course, Dani knew that was an oversimplification and there were times she had been the one to initiate things by texting Santana to let her know she was alone for the night.

As she reflected on their encounters over the past month and a half while brushing her teeth, she realized that Santana had only ever stayed over the night of their first hook up at her place. Although her ex never skipped out immediately after, she always left around midnight, even when both of Dani's roommates were out for the night.

The realization triggered other thoughts, namely that Dani had never inquired about who else may be staying with Santana at Kurt and Rachel's loft. Santana rarely shared details about her day; their time spent together was focused on maximizing each other's pleasure, which often required very little talking. Dirty talk, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter and Dani found herself reflecting on the things Santana said to her during their encounters.

She felt herself getting flushed and tried to clear her mind to avoid becoming too turned on before Santana arrived.

A knock on the front door alerted her to Santana's presence and she quickly made her way to answer it.

"Where's my surprise?" She asked bluntly, glancing around for some type of present.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's polite to be patient?" Her ex asked as she slipped past Dani into the apartment.

"I'm shocked you can ask that with a straight face," Dani pointed out. Between the two of them, she was not known for being the impatient one.

Santana ignored the comment as she led the way to Dani's room and the blonde locked the front door before following after her. She stopped only briefly to ensure that her roommate's door was closed and she could still hear the sounds of cold medication-induced snoring coming from inside. By the time she reached her room, Santana was busying herself with hooking her phone up to Dani's speakers and had moved the desk chair into the middle of the room.

"Is my surprise re-decorating my room? Because I have to say, as far as surprises go, that's really lame."

"Stop talking and you'll get your surprise," Santana replied, glancing up from her phone with a smirk before gesturing for Dani to sit in the chair.

The blonde smirked, knowing there was only one plausible explanation for why Santana moved her chair. She took a seat and made herself comfortable, already looking forward to Santana's 'surprise'.

"I was listening to a song today that made me think of you," Santana explained as she glanced away from her phone to look at Dani.

"Oh yeah?" The blonde replied, letting her gaze sweep over Santana, who was dressed only in black stilettos and a long, black coat cinched tight. She noticed the coat only fell to mid-thigh, yet she couldn't see anything underneath. "What song would that be?"

Santana turned around and smiled, clearly glad to have gotten a genuine response instead of Dani's usual sass. "I'm so glad you asked, Dani." With that, she pressed something on her phone before putting the device down on the dresser and moving her hands to the belt of her jacket.

Dani's smirked as she recognized Drake's 'Best I Ever Had'; however, her smirk was quickly replaced by a shocked gasp as Santana undid her jacket and let it slip off her shoulders, leaving her dressed only in a lacy black bustier and a matching thong.

Her eyes darkened with lust as she let her gaze drift over Santana, who was sauntering towards Dani with a pleased smile. "I can't believe you were only wearing that on the subway." Dani muttered, her thoughts a pleasantly confused jumble as she ogled her ex.

"Oh please, like this is the worst thing someone's worn on New York public transportation." Santana pointed out as she finally closed the gap and leisurely took her time straddling Dani's lap.

A quiet 'fuck' slipped from Dani's lips as her hands instantly rose up to grip Santana's hips.

"I know this isn't your first lap dance," Santana pointed out as she placed her hands on top of Dani's and slowly removed them, "You know how this works."

Dani nodded in response, not wanting to upset the lingerie-clad woman straddling her. She shifted in her chair so she could comfortably enjoy the show.

Santana smiled at the blonde, "Good girl," she praised before beginning to move to the music playing from her phone.

Dani watched intently as Santana swayed her hips to the beat, nearly grinding into Dani's lap, but leaving just enough space to drive the other woman crazy. Dani gripped the sides of the chair, trying to resist the temptation to grab Santana's hips and pull her closer.

Santana rested briefly on Dani's lap, before making a show of her flexibility, bringing her leg over the blonde's head in order to turn around so her back was now to her ex. She stood up from Dani's lap, but continued to move in rhythm to the song, making sure Dani's attention was focused on her ass.

"So hot," Dani mumbled, mesmerized by the seductive sway of Santana's hips.

Santana smirked in response to the comment before dropping it low and slowly bringing it back up before grinding down into Dani's lap, making contact this time. It ended nearly as quickly as it began and Santana stood up and turned. Her hands slid teasingly slow up Dani's thighs as she leaned in, making sure her cleavage was right in front of the blonde's face.

Dani let out a moan at the sight; she was insanely aroused and not even embarrassed about it. Her reaction seemed to please the other woman as Santana straddled Dani's lap to continue tempting her with the sway of her hips.

Dani could feel the heat radiating from Santana and knew her ex was turned on as well. Without thinking about the potential consequences of breaking the rules of a lap dance, Dani reached up one hand to rest on Santana's hip while the other stroked over the thin scrap of lace between Santana's thighs.

Santana moaned at the contact and rather than scolding Dani, placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder as she switched up the move of her hips to rock back and forth to better grind against Dani's hand.

Encouraged by the reaction, Dani applied more pressure to Santana's core. The increasing dampness of the lace served to only heighten Dani's own arousal. After a moment of letting Santana grind against her, Dani slid her panties to the side and ran her fingers through the wet folds before slipping two fingers inside Santana.

Her ex let out a loud moan of approval as she once again changed up her movements and began to slowly ride Dani's fingers, acclimating to the feel of the fingers inside her.

Dani's eyes darkened as she watched Santana ride her fingers and the hand gripping her ex's hip tightened as she helped steady Santana's movements. After getting used to the sensation, Santana increased her pace, letting out sounds of contentment every time she dipped low enough for Dani's fingers to fill her completely.

Dani was vaguely aware that the music in the background had stopped; the song ended while she was otherwise distracted by Santana. However, she wasn't bothered in the slightest by the lack of music as the relative silence of the room was now filled by the moans and whimpers of the woman straddling her. Dani used her thumb to press firmly against Santana's clit, giving her ex an additional jolt of pleasure every time she brought her hips down against Dani's hand.

She could tell Santana was close from the way her pace increased; her movements becoming increasingly more erratic. Dani used the hand on her hip to help guide Santana's thrusting as best she could while pressing her thumb more firmly against Santana's clit. Her wrist was cramped and aching at this point, but she knew the satisfaction of making Santana come would more than make up for the soreness in her hand the next day.

She watched with a satisfied grin as Santana reached her peak. Her ex let out a loud moan and stilled her movements, overwhelmed by the intensity of her orgasm. Dani began to slowly thrust her fingers, extending the pleasure as Santana came down from her high.

After a moment, Dani withdrew her hand and helped Santana to settle on her lap, still facing her. Santana draped her arms loosely around Dani's neck as she leaned in to exchange slow, lazy kisses with the blonde.

"You kinda took away from the lap dance being something special just for you, you know," Santana commented once she'd finally recovered enough to put a complete sentence together.

"If you think that watching you ride my fingers wasn't equally as sexy as your lap dance, you're wrong," Dani pointed out as she ran her hands along Santana's thighs.

Santana smirked and leaned in to give Dani another lingering kiss. "I found it really hot that while I was trying to convey a very important message through that song, you used that opportunity to remind me of your skills."

Dani laughed and slid her hands higher to grab Santana's ass. "I'll have you know I was incredibly flattered by the song choice."

Santana kissed Dani once more before standing up and removing herself from the other woman's embrace, "I think it's about time we move this to the bed so I can thank you for all of the amazing orgasms you've given me."

"Well, if you're thanking me for all of them, it might take a while." Dani teased as she got up from her chair and stretched.

"That's the plan," Santana replied with a wink, "Think you'll be able to handle it?"

Dani's mouth went dry at the thought of Santana taking her time with her. She eagerly nodded and removed her shirt before stepping closer to her ex. Santana grinned and pulled Dani into a heated kiss before guiding her back towards the bed.

* * *

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As you might have noticed over the last few chapters, there's quite a bit of smut in this story and quite a bit of cheating. I'm always happy to discuss my reasoning behind this if you want to PM me and ask questions. However, the short and sweet explanation is that I'm a psychology nerd and I absolutely love exploring the complexity of human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. As a writer, it's so much fun having characters deal with the cognitive dissonance between behaviors they enjoy but know are wrong. I'm not trying to make any of the characters come across as evil or bad, I'm only trying to convey that people are complicated and can believe they are good and moral, but do dumb things and go to crazy lengths to try and rationalize their behaviors. I am sorry if the cheating in this story upsets anyone; hopefully you can still enjoy the story, but I understand if this is not the story for you. I will say that the next few chapters have more interaction with other characters and less smut.


	7. Chapter 7

Santana was curled up on the couch, scrolling idly through her phone while doing her best to tune out the incessant chatter of her roommates as Rachel droned on about her latest crush. It wasn't that she was unhappy about Rachel finding love…but this was the third crush she'd had over the last four months and the previous ones had ended horribly. Santana had tried to coach Rachel to be a little bit cooler and way less clingy with guys she wasn't even dating yet, but the hobbit, as usual, ignored her advice and ended up getting hurt when the guys rejected her.

Fortunately, Santana had a better way to occupy her time as she pulled up a calendar app on her phone to navigate to the private calendar she had been maintaining. This calendar had the dates and times when her roommates were out of the apartment during a typical week as well as any other appointments they had that would keep them out of the loft. She let out a quiet huff of frustration as she realized the upcoming week didn't have a lot of overlap between when her roommates would be gone, which meant she couldn't invite Dani over for the next several days.

She closed out of the calendar app before navigating to a private notepad app; this one had a list of excuses she had already used to leave the apartment and ideas for excuses for future use. She was busy scanning the list, trying to decide which to use tonight to escape Kurt and Rachel's non-stop talking when the front door slid open.

Santana glanced up as Brittany walked into the loft; she noticed the blonde seemed especially happy as she practically bounced into the room. She vaguely remembered that her girlfriend had an audition for a show today, but she couldn't recall which one.

"What's up, Britt?"

"I did it, I got the part!"

There was only a beat of silence while the news settled before Santana quickly stood up while Kurt and Rachel hurried over.

"Congratulations!" Rachel cried out, the first to reach Brittany and wrap her in a tight hug, "I can't believe you got a role in the Cats revival! Which part?"

"Let her breathe," Kurt teased as he nudged his friend aside to give the blonde a congratulatory hug, "That's amazing, Britt."

"I don't remember the name of the character, one of the background dancing ones." Brittany explained with a shrug, her face lit up with happiness.

"Congrats Britt, I'm so happy for you." Santana said as she reached her girlfriend and pulled her into a hug, "You so deserve this."

"We have to go celebrate," Rachel insisted as she looked to the others for confirmation before grabbing her things.

"Ooh can we go to the Cat Cafe?" Brittany asked as she clapped her hands in excitement.

"Wherever you want," Kurt replied with a nod, "And that does seem like a fitting choice."

Santana pouted, but tried to hide it from the others. She had an extreme dislike of most cats and was convinced they knew it, so they were always especially rude towards her. However, the look of excitement on Brittany's face didn't go unnoticed, so she forced a smile and nodded, "Let's go."

An hour later they were seated at a cozy table in the cafe and had just placed their food order. Brittany already had a rather large cat, who she said reminded her of Lord Tubbington, resting comfortably on her lap. Kurt and Rachel were admiring a fluffy white cat with a bejeweled collar who was sitting on a perch a few feet away.

"I think she would be the perfect addition to our apartment," Rachel said as they watched the cat delicately grooming herself.

"I don't know, she seems a little high maintenance. I think we have enough of that already," Kurt muttered as he eyed the cat.

"Exactly, we'd name her Barbra and she'd fit right in."

Santana rolled her eyes and tried to redirect the conversation before they ended up with a high maintenance cat, "So Britt, tell us more about the show."

The blonde immediately began to recount all sorts of details about the audition and what she had learned so far regarding the six day a week rehearsal schedule that would begin the following week.

Santana felt guilty when her first thought was to add the days and times Brittany mentioned to her private calendar. She quickly pushed the guilt away; she'd had a lot of practice avoiding the emotion over the past several weeks.

"Isn't it exciting? We're all here in New York and actually living our dreams!" Rachel exclaimed, eyes lighting up with elation before quickly glancing over at Santana, "I mean…we're getting there at least. Something great will come along for all of us."

"Calm down, Berry. I get it," Santana replied, effectively cutting off Rachel before she got a chance to continue rambling in an attempt to backtrack. However, it didn't ease the frustration that set in at now being the only one without an amazing job. Realistically, she knew she might have found something by now if she spent even half as much time looking for work as she did maintaining a double life and coming up with brilliant excuses to see Dani.

As her three roommates continued to talk about their jobs, Santana checked her phone, trying to distance herself from the feelings of inadequacy she was experiencing. She smiled when she noticed she had a new text message.

 _Dani (7:45pm): Looks like my roommates are out and I'm all alone for the night…_

Santana smirked as she read the message. She could tell that Dani was in a playful mood tonight from the teasing tone of her text. Disappointment quickly set in as she realized she really couldn't go over to Dani's place tonight since it was Brittany's big day. Although she certainly wasn't going to be winning any 'Girlfriend of the Year' awards, disappearing on Brittany tonight seemed a bit too harsh, even for her.

 _Santana (7:46pm): I wish I could join you, but I can't tonight…raincheck for this weekend?_

She hated turning down Dani and was glad she'd only had to do it a couple of times over the past several weeks, despite her chaotic living situation with two drama queens and an ever-present girlfriend.

Their food arrived, distracting Santana's attention from her phone. However, she was quickly reminded she was surrounded by cats who all seemed to be glaring at her. She glared back at a striped cat hovering nearby, "Are we sure this place is sanitary?"

"Of course," Brittany said with a nod, "Cats are super clean. Lord Tubbington used to clean my whole house."

Santana shrugged off the confused looks of the other two before hesitantly picking at her sandwich. She noticed her comment similarly affected Rachel and Kurt, who seemed to lose their appetites as well, while Brittany eagerly dove into her food.

When a new text appeared on Santana's phone, she quickly checked it, figuring it was just Dani agreeing to the raincheck.

 _Dani (7:50pm): That's too bad…_

The text was followed by a picture of Dani. More specifically, a picture of her exposed torso; her red plaid shirt was open and her breasts were barely covered by a lacy black bra.

Santana felt her mouth go dry and she quickly grabbed her drink and finished it, feeling entirely too warm and confined in the cafe. This was the first time Dani had ever sent her a suggestive photo and Santana was completely caught off guard.

"You okay?" Rachel asked, noticing that her friend appeared flushed.

"What? Yeah," Santana replied with a nod, making sure her phone was facing down on her lap. "I just wish they served alcohol here, it would make being around this many cats bearable."

"My guess is that drunk people in a room full of cats was something they wanted to avoid," Kurt replied as he continued poking at his food.

Santana rolled her eyes, waiting until her friends fell back into their conversation before she risked turning her phone back over.

 _Santana (7:53pm): You don't play fair_

 _Dani (7:53pm): Who said I was trying to?_

Another picture popped up, this one a close-up shot of Dani's neck and cleavage. Santana noticed that with the closer angle, she could see the faint purple marks of fading love bites along Dani's neck and the swell of her breasts.

 _Dani (7:54pm): Looks like your attempts to mark me are almost gone…_

Santana bit her lip to keep from making a noise, whether it be a moan or a growl. Dani had sent that photo knowing how much Santana enjoyed marking her when they were together. Although Dani always scolded her when she left marks in visible places, Santana knew she secretly loved it even though it was a hassle to cover up.

She contemplated whether there was any way she could sneak away for at least an hour to see Dani. However, she didn't entertain the thought for long, she knew Kurt and Rachel would give her disapproving looks for weeks if she left Brittany's side tonight. Not that they had any idea where she was going, but they both loved attention and considered it to be a vicious insult whenever someone didn't fully celebrate accomplishments. She thought back to the day that Rachel found out she got the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl; they'd celebrated that night at the loft and it was the first time she and Dani had spent time together outside of the diner.

Reflecting on the beginning of her relationship with Dani brought up bittersweet memories and reminders of the complexity of the current situation, so she quickly brushed them aside. If she didn't spend too much thinking about her actions, it kept the guilty feelings at bay.

She unlocked her phone, hoping to put an end to the sweet torture only to find a third picture had been sent. This one was another of Dani's torso, only focused a bit lower than the first; it showed the tips of Dani's fingers teasingly slipped just below the top of her lacy panties.

 _Dani (7:57pm): Seems like I have to take matters into my own hands_

Santana put her phone down and had to blink heavily before reaching for the glass that had been refilled at some point. She hadn't even seen the waitress stop by, although she wasn't surprised because her mind was clearly elsewhere. After taking a moment to cool down, she flipped her phone back over to reply.

 _Santana (8:00pm): You're killing me. You know I'd be there if I could._

Her reply seemed to work as she was sent a text without an accompanying picture.

 _Dani (8:01pm): Fine, then you better send me a picture I can work with._

The thought of Dani getting herself off to a picture of her drove Santana crazy. She stood up from the table, getting the attention of her friends. "There's just a lot of cats staring me down right now, I need to get some fresh air," she explained, knowing that a half truth always worked better than a total lie.

"They're only staring at you because you're not sharing your dinner," Brittany explained to her girlfriend, "Everyone knows that cats prefer human food."

Santana gave a dismissive nod, only half listening before heading towards the front door. She needed to find someplace where she could send Dani a picture. She could have opted for the bathroom, but based on the decor of the main part of the cafe, she assumed the bathroom would be even more kitschy and frightening, and definitely not sexy.

Fortunately, there was a boutique hotel a few doors down and Santana headed straight for the lobby bathrooms. She was pleasantly surprised to find the chic decor of the small hotel extended to the single person bathroom. The black subway tile would make a suitable back drop and the room was well lit, but avoided harsh fluorescent lights. She checked her appearance in the mirror and tousled her long hair to get the sexy look she was going for as she contemplated what to do for her photo.

After double checking that the door was locked, she quickly removed her clothes until she was only in a dark red bra and black panties. She was pleased that even though her lingerie wasn't a matching set, it at least looked good. Though this wasn't her ideal choice of attire or location for sending her first racy picture to Dani, it would have to do.

She leaned her shoulders back against the wall, lifting one leg and resting it behind her so she could prop the lower half of her body away from the wall without it looking weird. Although the bathroom seemed clean enough, there was no way Santana was about to let her barely covered ass touch against anything in this room. From her position on the back wall, she could check out her appearance in the mirror over the sink and adjusted her cleavage, hair and body until it was in the optimal position. She raised her phone up and took the picture at an angle that not only got her face, but her boobs, torso, and thighs as well. She took a few photos from a couple of angles before selecting her favorite to send to Dani.

 _Santana (8:13pm): Enjoy…and if you feel like taking a video of how you use that photo tonight, I would really like to watch that ;)_

 _Dani (8:14pm): Holy shit_

 _Dani (8:14pm): No can do on the video, I'll be a little too preoccupied to film anything. Have a good night!_

Santana pouted, but she knew the request was a long shot. Although she was more than a little tempted to keep the conversation going to try and get more photos from Dani, or even possibly initiate phone sex to help the blonde get off, she knew she had already been absent for a suspicious amount of time.

She hurriedly redressed and washed her hands for good measure before slipping out of the bathroom and heading back to the Cat Cafe.

"Is everything okay?" Rachel asked as soon as Santana sat down at the table.

"Yeah, I just took a walk. I feel a lot better now."

"What happened to your hair?" Kurt asked as he eyed the mussed tresses.

"What?" Santana asked as her hands flew to her hair, remembering that she had done quite a bit of primping to get a sexy bedhead look; she tried to fix it as best she could, "Oh, I guess it was a bit windier than I realized."

"Well, you're lucky," Rachel muttered as she eyed her friend, "Whenever I so much as look out the window on a windy day my hair becomes knotted and disgusting. Yours looks like you just came from a photo shoot."

Santana smirked at the description, glad that her hair apparently looked very good. "Some people are just lucky," she said with a shrug, "Although not using 2-in-1 shampoo also helps."

"I do not use 2-in-1 shampoo!" Rachel exclaimed, shocked by the accusation.

"I do," Brittany replied casually, "I actually use 3-in-1, it's shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. All the other bottles were confusing."

"So that's where that monstrosity in the bathroom came from," Kurt said with a nod, as if getting the answer to a mystery that had ben haunting him.

"Okay, now that we have an answer to the question no one wanted to ask, can we go and get some real food now?" Santana said as she waved a hand at the nearly untouched plates in front of Rachel, Kurt, and herself.

"Yes, please." Rachel said with an enthusiastic nod of agreement as the trio with the uneaten food reached into their wallets to pay for their meal.

"But what about Miss Fluffington?" Brittany asked as she pointed to the obese cat still sprawled across her lap, "Can she come with us?"

"First of all, that Miss is definitely a Mister - I caught an unfortunate glimpse when he was stretching earlier. Britt, we can't bring him home," Santana explained, noticing the sad look on her girlfriend's face, "But we can all go out dancing after we get real food."

The announcement perked the blonde right back up and she cheered her approval at the plan. Santana was grateful to not be bringing a cat home and mentally applauded her quick thinking with the distractor plan.

The group of friends stopped to get food from a street vendor before heading to a club near their loft for dancing. However, Santana frequently found her thoughts turning towards her ex. She wondered what Dani was doing, what it would be like to be dancing with Dani instead of Brittany, if Dani had really gotten herself off to the picture Santana had sent, and if so, what that had looked like.

Santana tried to get rid of the thoughts by drinking, but quickly found that the alcohol in her system caused the thoughts to drastically increase. The feel of her phone in the back pocket of her jeans was practically burning a hole through her. She was dying to pull it out to check her texts…or to stare at the pictures from earlier, but fortunately still had enough wits about her to know that was a terrible idea.

While Kurt and Brittany were engaged in a vogue-off on the dance floor, Santana stumbled to the bathroom with an equally drunk, and especially clingy, Rachel in tow. Although Santana was a bit frustrated by the presence of the hobbit, she took advantage of the time Rachel was in a stall to pull out her phone. She was disappointed to find no new texts, but maximized the time she had without Rachel as her shadow to pull her top down low enough to show her very prominent cleavage. After finding her best lighting and angles in the dimly lit bathroom, she took a few photos of her boobs, ignoring the other club goers who were also drunk and fairly oblivious to her as well.

As she was snapping a final picture, Rachel came out of the stall and caught her, "Are you taking pictures of your cleavage?"

"Yep," Santana said with a nod as she flipped through the pictures to find the best one.

"But why? Your girlfriend's out there," Rachel reminded her, using a soap covered hand to gesture in the direction of the main dance floor before returning both hands to the sink.

Santana scowled at the reminder before realizing Rachel couldn't possibly know the real reason for the photos and wasn't reprimanding her. "Sometimes, Berry, a girl just wants to take hot photos of her body for herself." Santana explained as she selected her favorite photo and texted it to Dani.

"Really?" Rachel asked as she turned to face Santana, almost immediately moving too far into her personal space, which Santana knew was the effect of the alcohol on her roommate.

"Mhmm," Santana said with a nod, locking her phone so Rachel couldn't see her screen. "It's totally normal for girls to want to be proud of what they have, I mean even you…" she trailed off as she looked Rachel up and down while her friend stared back with glassy doe eyes, "Well, you have what you have, but you can still own it."

"Thanks, I think," Rachel replied with a frown as she tried to sort out what Santana had said to her.

"Anytime, now go back with the others. I can't pee with you around, it freaks me out." She guided Rachel out the bathroom door before checking her phone, hoping to see a new text.

 _Dani (10:37pm): Damn that's hot_

 _Santana (10:39pm): NO you'er hot!_

 _Dani (10:40pm): It seems like someone's having fun ;)_

 _Santana (10:40pm): not really_

 _Dani (10:40pm): Aww, why not?_

 _Santana (10:40pm): you're not here_

 _Dani (10:41pm): You want me there? That's so sweet_

 _Santana (10:41pm): I want YOU. Like all the time. ALL THE TIME. I can't stop thinking about you._

Santana was intently watching the ellipsis blinking on her screen, waiting for Dani's response, when the bathroom door opened. "There you are!" Brittany exclaimed as she moved closer to her girlfriend, "Rachel came back like forever ago. I thought you got lost."

Santana immediately shoved her phone in her pocket, feeling a wave of panic and guilt crash over her at the unexpected interruption, "No, I'm fine. I'm here."

"Come on, let's go dance!" Brittany exclaimed as she grabbed Santana's hand and dragged her from the bathroom.

The rest of the night passed in a blur of dancing and drinking until the group stumbled back to the loft sometime after 1am. Although Dani hadn't been far from Santana's mind, she managed to enjoy herself and have fun with her friends. In her drunken state, she'd forgotten that she had even been waiting for a text until she plugged her phone in to charge before bed.

 _Dani (10:43pm): I want you too. I wish you were here so I could show you how much. But I'll take you up on the raincheck soon._

 _Dani (11:36pm): Goodnight, San. I hope you have a fun night and get home safe. Sweet dreams._

Santana smirked at the first text but the smirk softened into a smile as she read the second. It was the first goodnight text she'd gotten from Dani since they'd been in a relationship. The sweet and caring message left a soft smile on Santana's face as she cuddled up in her bed and quickly fell into an alcohol fueled slumber.

* * *

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review to let me know your thoughts on the story so far!


	8. Chapter 8

_Santana (12:05pm): I hear someone's got an upcoming gig…_

 _Dani (12:07pm): Okay we literally just announced that, how did you hear so fast?_

 _Santana (12:08pm): I have my ways. So, am I going to get an invite or should I just show up like the last time?_

 _Dani (12:08pm): Good news, no invitation necessary to get into a club :P_

 _Dani (12:09pm): But…I think it might be worthwhile to come, I've been working on a new song_

 _Santana (12:11pm): Oh it's always worthwhile for me to come… ;)_

 _Santana (12:11pm): New song, huh? About anyone in particular?_

 _Dani (12:12pm) Maybe. Guess you'll have to show up to find out._

 _Santana (12:13pm): Wouldn't miss it._

* * *

"So, are you going to tell me whatever it is you've been too nervous to say to me?" Elliott asked as he leaned back in his chair; the remnants of their lunch still scattered on the table between the two friends.

"What?" Dani asked, looking up in confusion from the cup of tea clutched in both hands.

"Come on, Dani. I can tell there's something on your mind. You've been distant all through lunch. The fact that you invited me here yet have barely contributed to the conversation tells me that there's something you want to tell me."

Dani felt a small smile tug at her lips, impressed by Elliott's inductive reasoning. "Fine. You caught me." She sighed as she released her grip on her cup and ran a hand through her hair. "Just promise me you'll try to withhold judgment until I've finished."

"I'm intrigued," Elliott admitted with a nod, "I'll do my best."

Dani nodded and let out another deep breath, "Okay, so for the past few weeks, well, months really." She paused as she thought back, trying to figure out the timeline, "Nearly three months I guess, I've been kinda hooking up with someone."

Elliott's face broke into a broad grin, "That's awesome, Dani!" Almost immediately, his grin started to slip, "Why haven't you told me anything about this?"

Dani chewed her lower lip as she summoned the courage to continue, "Well, I would have…but it's kind of a weird situation." She paused as she tried to figure out how to best explain while Elliott waited with an expectant expression, "For starters, it's just hooking up. Not like dating or really even hanging out with our clothes on."

Elliott nodded as he processed that and then shrugged, "If you're happy with your situation, I'm not one to judge. I know you've had some trouble finding someone you're…compatible with."

Dani smirked and raised an eyebrow at Elliott's description of her difficulty finding someone who could satisfy her sexual needs. "Anyway, yes I am happy with the situation. I mean, it's not that I was looking for just sex, but it's been working well for us. We've never really had a conversation about what we want out of this, it just is what it is."

Elliott frowned in confusion, "Wait, now I'm lost. So are you happy with the situation or do you wish it was something more?"

Dani sighed and focused her attention back on her cup, "I don't know, it's just a really bizarre situation and I don't know if I'd even want to get into a relationship with her again…" she trailed off after her slip-up and hoped Elliott hadn't noticed. She had planned on telling him about Santana today, but not necessarily through a slip of the tongue.

"Again?" Elliott's frown deepened before realization struck and he gasped, "Please tell me your fuck buddy isn't Santana."

Dani knew the intensity with which she avoided his gaze in favor of staring at her tea immediately gave her away.

"Dani, why?"

She bit her lip to keep from chuckling at Elliott's whiny question. She finally looked up to meet his gaze and shrugged, "The sex is really, really good."

"Doesn't she have a girlfriend?"

Dani's sheepish smile fell as she heard the question she had been asking herself for months voiced aloud. "I don't know. Like I said, we've never had that conversation."

"You've never asked your fuck buddy if she has a girlfriend - no, excuse me, you've never asked her if she's still dating the girl she left you for?"

Dani scowled, feeling herself get defensive against Elliott's incredulous attitude and harsh, yet admittedly true, words. "It hasn't come up," she muttered before glancing back down at her cup to try and calm the sudden surge of emotions.

Elliott seemed to sense that she was overwhelmed and took a deep breath as he settled back into his chair, "Tell me from the beginning."

Dani glanced up, cautiously appraising Elliott's attitude and making sure he was calm before launching into an abridged version of how she and Santana began hooking up. She made sure to emphasize her reluctance to let Santana in, but described how being with Santana had fulfilled her in more ways than just one over the past several weeks.

She could tell Elliott was still skeptical, but seemed less tense as she caught him up to speed, "I know this is unexpected and you don't have to approve…but I just wanted to let you know. She'll be at the show tomorrow, so I didn't want you to freak out or anything if you see her there."

"I thought you said you two only see each other for hook ups?"

"Well yeah," Dani said with a nod, "But my band's only played a few private events in the past couple months, this is the first public show we've had since the one where she kissed me." She explained, "I think she just wants to see the band perform."

"Did you invite her?" Elliott asked in a voice that seemed to be masking any judgment.

"No, she texted me like right after we made the announcement about the show. I was a little surprised how quickly she heard about it...unless she's on our fan email list." The thought brought a smile to Dani's face, but she tried to hide it so Elliott couldn't see how happy the idea made her.

Elliott considered that for a moment before nodding, "Well, I won't say I completely understand or agree with your…arrangement, if it makes you happy then that's all that matters, right?"

Dani gave her friend a relieved grin at that, "Thanks, El. I know it's a lot to process and I'm not asking you to be onboard. Just be cool tomorrow?"

Elliott rolled his eyes at that, "I'm the definition of cool," he reminded the blonde with a smirk. "But no worries, I'll play nice with Santana."

"Thank you."

"I'm actually a little surprised you didn't turn that 'play nice' comment into a sexual innuendo. I thought I was setting myself up for a 'that's my job' from you."

Dani's grin turned into a smirk, "Oh, Santana and I don't play nice."

"Oh, okay gross. Thank you for that insight into your sex life that I never wanted."

Dani laughed at her friend's discomfort, "Just wait until you hear my new song."

"New song?" Elliott questioned, "What new song?"

Dani shrugged, a smug smile playing at her lips, "You'll see tomorrow."

* * *

"Hey Santana, good to see you again," Elliott said as he approached the striking girl who was sitting at the bar.

"Hey Elliott, I've missed you!" Santana replied as she got up to give her former friend a brief hug.

Elliott noticed the lack of surprise at his presence and figured Dani must have told Santana about their conversation yesterday. If that was the case, clearly the two women kept in touch a little more than just to arrange hook ups, as Dani had made it seem. Santana was also at the venue nearly an hour before Dani's band was scheduled to go on. It seemed like she had put even more effort into her appearance and outfit choice than usual, but he knew that could be presumptuous of him seeing as he hadn't seen her in a year - except for at a distance at the past two shows.

"You look great," he commented as he took a closer look at her crimson bodycon dress that ended mid-thigh.

"Oh, thanks," Santana seemed a bit taken aback by the compliment before her usual smirk was back in place, "I'm trying to impress the hot lead singer."

Elliott chuckled at that, feeling a nearly overwhelming urge to ask Santana about her relationship status. However, Dani had made him promise at least three times that he wouldn't ask Santana if she had a girlfriend. Although he didn't necessarily agree with the situation Dani had found herself in, she was an adult and it was her life to live. Besides, he hated being involved in the drama that Rachel, Kurt, and Santana had often found themselves in and was just as happy to not start any on his own.

"She'll definitely be impressed," Elliott confirmed with a nod, following his promise to Dani to get along with Santana. He watched as Santana's face lit up at the comment, but was surprised to see an almost shy smile linger on her lips. He couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was going on between the two women was a little deeper and more complicated than perhaps either was willing to admit. He only hoped that if Santana felt it too, then maybe Dani wouldn't get hurt like he feared.

The two former bandmates caught up over drinks while waiting for the show to begin. He noticed that Santana didn't mention the breakup or the girl she left Dani for; however, he couldn't be sure that Santana was still with that other girl, so he tried to reserve his judgments. Mostly they talked about Dani, which seemed like a safe, neutral ground for the two of them. He continued to notice the way Santana would smile when sharing something funny Dani had told her or when talking about Dani's last show.

Before they realized how much time had passed, the lights over the main floor dimmed and the manager of the club was on stage to introduce The Nip Slips. The audience broke into cheers and Elliott watched as Santana glanced around as if checking out the competition.

"You want to head up front?" Santana asked Elliott over the enthusiasm from the crowd as the band took the stage.

"I'm good here, you go ahead." Elliott encouraged, wanting to maintain his perfect vantage point to not only see the band, but also watch Santana if she did move her way closer to the stage. She nodded and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze before making her way through the crowd.

* * *

Santana maneuvered through the excited crowd, having no trouble charming her way in front of the guys in the audience to get to a good view. She didn't want to be too close to the front of the stage where she'd be up against the speakers, but instead opted for a space front and center where she could easily watch Dani - and Dani could easily spot her.

She watched as the gorgeous blonde took the stage in her all black ensemble. Santana could feel her mouth watering as she checked Dani out, almost wishing the show was already over so she could have her way with the blonde. Her gaze continued to drift over Dani's curves as she addressed the audience and introduced the members of the band. When she finally brought her gaze back up to Dani's face, she noticed her ex was looking at her, a small smirk on her face as she continued to warm up the crowd. Santana returned the smirk before Dani tore her gaze away to look at others in the audience.

The band started with an original song that Santana remembered from the first show. She had learned from Dani that it was written by Pete the lead guitarist and was the first single the band ever had that played on a local alternative station. After playing two covers, the band began to play 'Sorry Not Sorry', which caused Santana to smirk.

She could tell that Dani's attitude was different with this performance of the song, obviously not having as much to prove this time. Even though the lyrics didn't have the same effect on her as the first time she'd heard the song performed, she noticed that certain lines, including 'you fucking with a savage' and 'it would be nice for me to take it easy on ya, but nah' still seemed relevant to their current situation, although for a much different reason.

Santana could tell Dani was thinking the same thing as her gaze always seemed to land on her during those lyrics and she would add a little more sway to her hips, leaving Santana utterly captivated.

By the time Dani moved on to another of the band's originals, which Santana also recognized, she was thoroughly aroused and ready for the show to be over so she could leave with Dani. She tried to distract herself from the insanely sexy blonde who was taking command of the stage with her strong vocals and teasing dance moves by glancing around the crowd. She was pleased to see that the audience was in a good mood and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves and felt a rush of pride for Dani and her band.

She tried to make a mental note of every dude and chick who seemed to be undressing Dani with their eyes so she could go off on them later, but quickly realized that was an impossible task. Nearly everyone was entranced by Dani. She brought her attention back to the stage as the current song ended and Dani began to introduce the final song in the set. Her attention perked up when she heard it was a new song and knew it must be the song Dani had mentioned to her the other day. She hadn't been able to pry any further details out of Dani, so she was just as excited as the rest of the crowd to hear the new song.

 _"Hittin' me up late always be blowin' up my phone_

 _I'm lying awake wonderin' why I'm still alone_

 _Lord knows I am sinning, please forgive me for my lust_

 _Sending pictures back and forth_

 _Babe, I'm craving your touch"_

Santana's face broke into a grin when she realized the song was very clearly about her and that hadn't just been something Dani was teasing her about. She watched as Dani's gaze settled on her and she winked at the blonde.

 _"You're my new obsession_

 _Let go of any hesitation_

 _Baby, be my new addiction_

 _Intoxicate me gently with your loving_

 _You got me so high_

 _Pull me closer into you and watch our bodies intertwine_

 _I feel so alive_

 _You know what I'm thinking of_

 _Got me dreamin' 'bout that sexy dirty love"_

As Dani finished the first chorus, Santana already knew she'd be demanding a private performance of this song later. She watched hungrily as Dani stepped up her game to make her dance moves even more seductive and tempting.

 _"Now you're teasing me and I can't help but do the same_

 _Whispering through your phone, now you're driving me insane_

 _It's like you're getting off on messing with my sanity_

 _Hang up, come on over_

 _Let's play out this fantasy"_

Santana wasn't quite sure how she managed to refrain from jumping on stage and grinding up against Dani as she continued to torment her with the song. Whereas Dani had been only giving Santana the occasional glance during most of the show, she was now looking over at Santana every few seconds and seemed to be pleased by her ex's reaction to the song.

As the song drew to a close, Santana was overwhelmed with lust and her eyes tracked Dani's every move as the blonde replaced her mic in the stand and thanked the audience for coming out. Ignoring the audience chants for an encore, Santana pushed through the crowd making her way towards the door leading backstage.

"I'm sorry Miss, you can't go back there. Staff only." The security guard warned Santana as she approached the entrance backstage. Santana was preparing to unleash a pissed off tirade on the man who stood in her way when Elliott showed up beside her.

"It's okay, she's with me," Elliott told the guard.

The burly man nodded before opening the door to let them through. Santana was surprised that not only had Elliott managed to get them backstage access, but that he'd been willing to help her.

"You seemed to really enjoy the show," Elliott said with a teasing grin on his face as he led Santana towards where the band was resting after the show.

Santana was barely listening to Elliott, her heart was still racing after watching Dani perform that last song and she had only one thing on her mind.

"Hey El!" Max greeted Dani's friend with a wave, "How'd you like the show?"

Dani glanced over her shoulder to welcome her friend and seemed surprised to see Santana with him. Santana knew that the look she was giving Dani conveyed her current level of arousal and she watched a smirk appear on Dani's face as Santana and Elliott drew closer to the band members lounging around on couches.

"Who's your friend, Elliott?" Pete asked, a smile forming on his face as he appraised the newcomer.

"Not interested in you," Dani told the guitarist with a teasing grin as she stood up and took Santana's hand to lead her away from the group. They ignored the whistles from the band members at the bold move. Santana knew that Dani had been able to read her perfectly and could tell that she was not in the mood for small talk at the moment.

"How'd you like the new song?" Dani asked as she turned to face Santana once they found a relatively secluded corner.

"I liked it," Santana said as she leaned in to start trailing kisses along Dani's neck, "A lot. I want to show you just how much."

Dani moaned at Santana's words and the promise of great things contained in the simple sentence.

"You were incredible, Dani," Santana continued, pulling back to look Dani in the eyes so the blonde could see how much she meant those words, "You're insanely talented...and so fucking hot."

Dani chuckled at that before slipping a hand behind Santana's neck to draw her into a hungry kiss.

Santana eagerly responded to the kiss, her hands gripping Dani's hips to pull the other woman even closer.

"Hey Dani, get your ass back out here!" Max called out, his request going ignored by the otherwise distracted blonde. "Seriously, we have to - woah."

Santana pulled away from the kiss, realizing they weren't alone in their private corner anymore. "Sorry to interrupt - Dani, we have to go back out for the encore." The smirk on the drummer's face made it clear he wasn't all that sorry about what he'd stumbled upon.

"Oh, shit. Right." Dani said with a nod as she ran her hands through her hair. She glanced over at Santana who was pouting at the interruption, "We'll continue this later?"

"I think that's a great idea," Max said with a nod of approval.

"I wasn't asking you," Dani glared as she shoved her band mate back in the direction of the stage.

"Dani, wait," Santana called out as she caught up to the blonde and wiped away the traces of lipstick she'd left on the blonde, "Go out there and kill it." She gave a playful smack to Dani's ass, eliciting a chuckle from the drummer who was still watching the two women.

"I like her," Max said as he and Dani walked back to join the others. Santana took a moment to compose herself before returning to where Elliott was waiting alone, the others having already gone on stage.

"So, do you two talk or just communicate exclusively through body contact?" He teased, although Santana could tell there was something off about his expression. He seemed almost protective, as if he was appraising her motives or intentions with Dani.

"We talk," Santana defended before giving a small shrug, "But you can't blame me for my actions after that last song."

"Well, try to keep it in your pants during the encore," Elliott said before moving closer to the wings of the stage to watch the band perform their final song of the evening. Santana joined him and felt her breath catch in her throat when she realized that Dani was performing the same song she'd played during the first encore Santana had watched.

"Really? She went with this? She's just as bad as you." Elliott muttered, although Santana noticed a small smile on his face.

From this vantage point, Santana could no longer eyefuck Dani from the audience, but she had a completely different view. More specifically, she had an excellent view of Dani's ass as the blonde strutted around singing 'Confident' and putting just as much sexual energy into her moves as she had with her earlier songs.

Elliott and Dani cheered the band when the encore ended and stepped back into the backstage area to give the band room to come off stage when they finished thanking the audience for coming to the show.

"The band usually goes out to celebrate after a show," Elliott began, seeming like he was debating whether or not to say something else.

Santana nodded, wondering if this was some type of warning to give Dani some space.

"I know you and Dani are about two seconds away from ripping each other's clothes off and going at it right here, but if you think you can hold off for a bit, then you should join us."

Santana raised an eyebrow, surprised that Elliott extended an invitation to her when it was becoming apparent he was very protective of Dani and weary of Santana's reappearance in the blonde's life. "Thanks, that sounds fun," Santana said with a nod and a warm smile.

Elliott returned the nod, "It's pretty low-key, usually at a nearby bar. Sometimes fans will come over to chat, so it's not like an exclusive event. But I think Dani would like to have you there."

They were interrupted by the arrival of the excited band members, running off the high of another successful show.

Santana was a bit surprised when Dani walked over and wrapped her in a tight hug. It was the first semi-public show of affection the two had shared since they began hooking up. Santana could feel the infectious level of happiness and pride radiating off of Dani, so she returned the hug and kissed the blonde's cheek, eliciting a low chuckle from Dani.

"That was such a great show," Elliott enthused, "I think it was one of the biggest crowds yet and everyone was super into it."

"Thanks," Toby said with a grin as he helped his band mates pack up their gear, "It was a really good energy tonight."

"You all were incredible," Santana agreed, deciding it was rude at this point to ignore Dani's band mates if she was going out with them tonight.

"Why thank you, Dani's lady friend," Pete replied with a grin.

Dani rolled her eyes as she stepped away from Santana to help Elliott pack up her keyboard and guitar.

"Santana," she introduced herself with a small smirk, earning nods or smiles of acknowledgment from Dani's band members.

"I dig that name," Max said as he checked her out, "So tell me something, Santana. Are you the mystery woman behind that hot new song Dani wrote?"

Santana laughed as Dani took a break from packing up to glare at the drummer.

"I don't know, D. Was that song about me?" Santana joined in the teasing, playing naive as she stepped closer to run her fingers up Dani's arm.

The blonde huffed as she straightened up, grabbing her bag and guitar case. "Elliott and I are going to drink. The rest of you can continue your jokes while cleaning up this mess." Her band members booed her refusal to divulge information.

Elliott lifted the keyboard case and nodded for Santana to follow them.

"You're coming to the bar, right, Santana?" Pete called out as she passed, she turned to wink at him before hurrying to catch up to the blonde storming off.

"You're really hot when you pretend to be angry," Santana said as she took Dani's duffle bag from her, wanting to be at least somewhat helpful.

Dani shrugged at that, a smirk playing on her lips as she led the trio towards Max's van. "They're all pretty bad at figuring out female emotions so I can fake being angry once in a while to get out of helping with the clean up - but I only do it if they've been especially irritating."

Santana laughed at that and helped Dani and Elliott load the instruments into the van. The trio found a bar nearby and grabbed a large, corner booth in the back. Though Santana had been worried about awkward conversation between her, Elliott, and Dani and past events being brought up, they focused the conversation on the night's show. The remaining group members joined a short while later, filling the table up.

Dani and Santana had been shoved to the middle of the corner booth when the other band members arrived, though neither woman seemed to mind. Santana wasn't sure if they had consciously or unconsciously oriented themselves towards each other, but she realized her hand was resting on the blonde's thigh, while Dani had her arm draped around Santana's shoulders, playing with her long, dark tresses.

A few fans stopped by the table to express admiration or inquire about an album release date. The band members were obviously flattered by the praise from fans, but still seemed to be adjusting to the attention, despite this being far from their first successful show.

"Drinking helps make it a little easier to deal with," Dani whispered to Santana as one fan raved to Pete about how amazing he was. It was apparent to everyone at the table that the girl was trying to get with Pete and pouring on the praise a little thick. Pete seemed to still be contemplating whether or not to invite the girl to join them, which was a source of amusement for the others at the table.

"So how many girls' numbers would you have if I wasn't here right now?" Santana teased as she ran her hand along Dani's thigh.

Dani laughed at that and shook her head, "None."

"Oh come on, there's already been at least five people who looked like they wanted to fight me," Santana pointed out to the blonde who was acting oblivious to the attention. While three of those people had been dudes who never stood a chance anyway, Santana had sent the two women checking Dani out 'stay the fuck away' vibes.

"That's not true," Dani replied with a chuckle, "Maybe they thought you were with Max," she suggested as she nodded towards the drummer on the other side of Santana.

Santana rolled her eyes at that, "Yeah, they totally think I'm with Max," she responded drily as she made a show of glancing down at the way their bodies were positioned. Dani followed her gaze and seemed surprised to realize how entwined they had become.

"Fine, you're right. Everyone totally hates you," Dani teased, a smug smile playing at her lips.

"I love when you say I'm right," Santana replied, slowly leaning in and kissing the smirk off Dani's face.

The two women exchanged slow, tender kisses that were noticeably different from the hard and hungry kisses they typically shared. Dani was the first to break away, not wanting to carry on too long in front of her band mates. Unfortunately, even though the exchange had felt sweet and private in the moment, a glance around the table confirmed that the others had noticed.

"That will never not be hot," Pete said with a look of awe.

"What I walked in on earlier was hotter, but this was good too," Max agreed.

Dani rolled her eyes, "You guys are pigs. I know this isn't the first time you've seen two girls kiss."

"Yeah, but Santana's really, really attractive," Toby pointed out, "It's different."

Dani smirked as she glanced over at the woman who was watching the exchange with an amused smile, "You got me there."

Santana grinned as she pulled Dani closer and placed a soft kiss on her temple. The sweet gesture brought a smile to the blonde's face and she took one of Santana's hands in her own.

For the next hour, Santana did her best to focus on the others at the table instead of getting completely wrapped up in her thoughts about what she planned on doing with Dani as soon as they had some privacy. However, the alcohol she consumed only fueled her impatience and as soon as Dani sent her a look, silently asking if she was ready to leave, Santana all but dragged the blonde from the bar. The band members seemed to know exactly what was happening as they cheered for their lead singer who was all smiles and tipsy giggles as she followed behind Santana.

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always, please review - I really love hearing your feedback on this story. The next chapter has some drama...I hope you all are ready!

The song in this chapter is 'Sexy Dirty Love' by Demi Lovato.


	9. Chapter 9

The ringing of a phone cut through the silent apartment as Dani finished putting away the last of the groceries. A scowl formed on the blonde's face, she figured it was one of her roommates finally replying to her text asking if they wanted anything from the store - nearly an hour after she had sent the message.

Her irritation quickly faded as she glanced at the caller ID and answered the phone with a smile, "Hey there."

"God, your voice is sexy," Santana practically purred, causing Dani's smile to turn into a full-on grin.

"Thank you, I appreciate you taking time out of your day to call and tell me that."

"The reason I'm calling," Santana continued, interrupting Dani's teasing reply, "Is because I had a dream about you last night."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mhmm, we were back in that dressing room we made out in…only this time you threw me down on the couch and fucked me hard."

Dani drew in a sharp breath at the description of the dream, her brain conjuring up visuals to go along with what Santana described, "That sounds hot."

"Very," Santana murmured in agreement, seemingly lost in her own visual, "And now I've been horny all day…but I can't seem to get any relief."

The blonde smirked and made sure her keys and wallet were still in the pockets of her jacket as she headed towards the front door. "Oh yeah? That's no good."

Santana's sexual frustration was clearly limiting her patience with Dani's teasing even more than usual, "Are you coming over to fuck me, or not?"

Dani chuckled at the other woman's impatience, "I'm on my way, be there in fifteen," Dani promised as she shut her front door and locked it behind her.

"Good, I'll be waiting," Santana announced before hanging up.

Dani hurried to the loft and ended up at the front door in just under 15 minutes. She caught her breath in the hall before knocking to alert Santana to her presence. Within a matter of seconds, the heavy door slid open, revealing Santana clad in red lingerie under an open silk robe that left nothing to the imagination.

"Fuck," Dani cursed under her breath as she eyed the gorgeous woman in front of her. After taking a moment to simply check Santana out, she stepped forward and captured the other woman's lips in a hungry kiss.

Santana eagerly returned the kiss before breaking away to slide the door shut, "Bedroom," she announced, ushering Dani towards the area of the loft designated as a guest space. After debating whether or not to spend the extra few seconds closing the curtain that separated the 'room' from the loft, she snapped the curtain shut before turning towards the blonde, "Strip."

Dani smirked as she moved closer to Santana, "It's adorable that you think you're in control right now." She watched as her ex opened her mouth, clearly about to argue with her assessment of the situation, "See, when you call in the middle of the day and tell me I was the star of your sex dream last night and you need me to help relieve your frustration, that puts me in charge."

Santana's eyes darkened as Dani advanced on her, gently urging her back until she could push her onto the bed.

"Do you want me to take care of you, Santana?" Dani asked as she slid her leather jacket down her arms before tossing it to the side.

"Yes," Santana nearly gasped as she returned Dani's hungry gaze.

"I want you to ask me nicely," the blonde instructed as she slowly removed her shoes, in no hurry to give in to what Santana wanted.

Her ex gritted her teeth and Dani knew she was pushing it by asking for Santana to beg this early on in their encounter. But she could tell the other woman was worked up and likely to give in if she pushed just a little more.

"Unless you've changed your mind…" Dani said as she pushed her leggings down her hips before kicking them in a corner by her discarded jacket. She reached down to grab the hem of her shirt, but paused before removing it, "Do you want me to stop?"

Santana's eyes roamed Dani's body before glancing up to meet the playful glint in the blonde's eyes, "Please fuck me, Dani."

Dani grinned, proud that she was able to elicit a 'please' from Santana so quickly. She finished removing her shirt, leaving her clad only in her bra and panties as she crawled on the bed until she was straddling Santana's waist, "My pleasure."

Santana laid back, her hands wandering over Dani's thighs as she waited for the blonde to make a move.

Dani leaned in and captured her ex's lips in a passionate kiss as she placed her hands on top of Santana's and moved them up above her head. "No touching, this is about you…at least, for right now." She winked at the increasingly impatient woman beneath her who was pressing her thighs together to relieve the building pressure.

The blonde moved back until she was hovering over Santana's thighs and let her nails scrape down her ex's toned stomach. "Tell me what I did to you in your dream," Dani instructed as she gently ran her fingers back up along the faint red marks that were forming until she was cupping her full, lace-covered breasts.

Santana moaned at the welcome attention, "I don't know, please just touch me."

Dani tugged Santana's bra down, releasing her breasts before taking her nipples between her fingers and rolling them roughly, eliciting a groan from her ex. "Tell me, Santana."

"You pushed me on the couch," she began, clearly struggling to recall the details of the dream as Dani continued to pay attention to her breasts, "And slid my dress up to start touching me."

Dani smirked at the description, getting even more aroused as she pictured Santana's dream. "Hmm like this?" The blonde asked as she dragged her fingers over the soaked scrap of lace between the other woman's thighs. Her ex bucked her hips and let out a moan in response.

"Is this what you've been thinking about all day?" Dani asked as she began to rub Santana's clit through her panties.

"I've thought about you fucking me so many different ways," Santana admitted as she glanced up at Dani with half-lidded eyes, "About you touching me and making me come over and over," Santana continued, reaching up to let her nails drag down Dani's back.

Dani's eyes darkened with lust before she quickly caught hold of Santana's hands and moved them back up above her head, "Hands to yourself before I tie you up and give you a long lesson about following instructions."

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Santana challenged, her arousal at the thought of being tied up made evident by the way her hips bucked towards Dani, desperately seeking relief.

Dani smirked in response, leaning down to take one of Santana's nipples between her teeth as one hand slid back down to her lace covered core. Deciding that her ex had been patient and well-behaved, at least for Santana's standards, Dani pushed the soaked panties to the side and slid two fingers into the woman beneath her.

Santana's appreciative groan echoed off the walls, earning a grin from Dani who set a fast and hard pace, knowing the other woman couldn't handle much more teasing.

"Oh god, Dani. Keep going," Santana pleaded as she began moving her hips in rhythm with Dani's thrusting fingers.

"Are you going to dream about this tonight?" Dani asked as she added a third finger, drawing a gasp from the woman underneath her.

"Fuck! Yes!" Santana simultaneously answered and encouraged the blonde to keep going.

Dani bit her lip as she kept up the pace, thoroughly enjoying the expressions and sounds she was eliciting from Santana.

The sound of the heavy front door sliding open caused both women to freeze, their heart rates picking up for another reason entirely.

* * *

"San, you home?"

The two women jumped apart, Dani glanced nervously around the makeshift room while Santana quickly got off the bed. "Uh yeah," She called out as she tied her open silk robe tight around her and stepped out from behind the privacy curtain before Brittany could go looking for her.

"What are you doing here, I thought you had rehearsal?"

"It was cancelled. This one girl, Amy, started puking, which caused Craig to puke and it was just a mess. They kicked us all out to clean up."

"That's disgusting," Santana replied, trying to block out the visual as she attempted to get her racing heart under control.

"You okay, baby?" Brittany asked as she took a step closer, "You look all flushed and sweaty. Are you sick?"

"Uh yeah, I think so," Santana replied with a nod, eagerly accepting the question as an excuse for her appearance.

"Wait, did you get Amy and Craig sick? They looked kinda sweaty too."

"I've never met them, Britt," Santana reminded her girlfriend. "Besides, I'm not that kind of sick. I just need to rest."

"Okay, I'll tuck you into bed," Brittany offered as she began to steer the other woman towards their room.

"No!" Santana shouted in a panic, earning a confused look from her girlfriend. "I just mean I've been resting all day, but I'm really hungry. Would you mind going to get me soup from the place down the street?"

"Sure," Brittany nodded as she picked up her bag from the floor to get her wallet, "Call me if you need anything else…or if you feel pukey and I'll get more paper towels."

"Gross," Santana muttered before smiling at the other girl, "Thanks."

"I'll be back soon, I love you."

Santana smiled in response, feeling much too guilty to return the sentiment. She waited until Brittany left and she heard her footsteps descending the hall stairs before cautiously returning to her bedroom.

Dani was nearly fully dressed - she glared at Santana as she roughly threw on her jacket while shoving her feet back into her shoes.

"Dani, wait," Santana said as she moved closer to the obviously angry girl in front of her.

"Forgive me, but I really don't feel like fucking you right now," Dani growled as she finished slipping her other shoe on.

"She wasn't supposed to be home until tonight," Santana tried to explain to the fuming blonde in front of her.

"Oh, well I'm so sorry your girlfriend came home and kept you from getting off," Dani sneered the word 'girlfriend' as she glared at the woman who was attempting to block her path to the front door.

"Come on Dani, you knew," Santana challenged, not willing to take the entirety of the blame when it was obvious they had both purposely avoided the topic ever since they started hooking up.

Dani's eyes narrowed at the accusation, "Fuck you, Santana," she spat out as she moved around the woman standing in her way, "Do me a favor and lose my number," she instructed, not bothering to look back as she stormed out of the loft.

"Shit!" Santana exclaimed as she angrily kicked the coffee table before dropping down onto the couch in defeat.

* * *

A/N: Please review and let me know your thoughts on this chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

Dani was pissed. She'd left the loft an hour ago and had yet to calm down from the events of the afternoon. She mindlessly wandered the streets until she ended up in a coffee shop, hoping that a warm drink would help her relax enough to properly think. However, the caffeine only amped her up, so now she was irate _and_ energized.

She was furious with Santana for not telling her she had a girlfriend, but her anger only doubled every time she thought back to how Santana had accused her of knowing all along. She wanted so badly to be able to deny the accusation, but deep down she knew she couldn't. She had never asked about Santana's girlfriend. It had been the unspoken topic they had consciously skirted around for the three months they'd been hooking up. The fact that Santana wasn't single had been very apparent due to the blatant lack of discussing anything related to relationships. Dani had never brought up the topic of labelling what she and Santana were doing, because she just knew her ex was with someone else.

However, it still infuriated her that Santana brought it up in the way that she had. It was as if she was expecting Dani to just be okay with the fact that she was more or less the mistress in the whole fucked up situation. Obviously after what happened today they couldn't go back to pretending what Santana was doing wasn't cheating - and part of Dani's anger was over the fact that she couldn't just go back to the feigned ignorance and mind-blowing sex.

As she continued to wander the streets of Brooklyn, she realized her anger wouldn't subside until she had a chance vent. She started making her way to the one person she could always count on, although she knew an 'I told you so' would most likely be in store for her.

* * *

"Hey," Elliott greeted as he opened his front door, "Did we have plans?"

"No," Dani said with a shake of her head, and Elliott could tell right away something was off. "I just figured I would stop by to see if you were home, but if you're busy, I can come back another time…"

Elliott interrupted his friend, who looked like she was about two seconds from leaving, "Does it seem like I'm busy?" He teased as he ushered her into his apartment, "Unless you count eating dinner while watching the news as an eventful night in."

Dani chuckled, but it was different from her usual laughter. "Curry?" She asked as she glanced towards the kitchen.

Elliott nodded, knowing that his friend could tell by the smell of the food filling the apartment, "Want some?"

Dani gave a small nod and he headed into the kitchen to dish up two bowls. He led his friend to the couch and handed her a bowl before settling in his usual spot and shifting to face her, "So, what's up?"

He watched as Dani avoided his gaze, taking a small bite of food and chewing for longer than necessary before finally responding, "I was at Santana's earlier."

Elliott gave a hum of acknowledgment to encourage her to continue. As soon as Dani showed up at his door, he had a feeling it had something to do with Santana. However, he still wasn't sure what happened.

Dani pushed her food around the bowl, seeming to be lost in thought. When she began to speak, her focus remained on her dinner rather than her friend, "We were hooking up and her girlfriend came home."

Elliott let out a gasp that he knew was probably the most dramatic sound he had ever emitted, "She caught you?"

"No," Dani responded with a quick shake of her head, "She didn't see anything and Santana got her out of the apartment…" she paused and shook her head, her frustration becoming more visible, "But that's not the point." Dani finally glanced up, holding her friend's gaze, "She has a girlfriend! And she's been sleeping with me for three months!"

Elliott was silent as he processed the information. He could tell his lack of an immediate response was getting to the blonde.

"So? Anything to say?" Dani asked, "I know you judged me for not asking if she was single the first time she showed up in my dressing room. Guess you were right."

Elliott sighed, "I'm not happy about this, D," he said gently, knowing his friend was hurting. As much as he had wanted her to ask Santana months ago, he wasn't going to rub that in her face now. "I only wanted you to ask because I didn't want you to get hurt."

She gave a small nod as she looked back at her food, "I can't believe she didn't tell me she was still with her."

"Dani," Elliott said in a stern, yet gentle tone, "We both knew she wasn't single. You two have been actively avoiding the subject so much, it would have been comical if it wasn't so annoying."

Dani's gaze snapped up and she seemed even angrier, "I didn't know!" She protested, "How could I have known? She never told me!"

Elliott raised an eyebrow and waited until Dani calmed down enough to guiltily drop her gaze after her outburst. "She might not have ever confirmed it, but I know you had your suspicions."

"I'm sorry," she murmured so quietly he almost missed it, "She just said something similar before I left - about how I knew, so I just kind of got angry all over again."

"Understandable," he reassured her before asking something he was curious about, "What was her reaction to almost being caught?"

Dani considered that a moment as she took another small bit of her dinner, "She freaked out."

Elliott was frustrated he didn't have more to go on and put his bowl on the coffee table, "Okay, I'm gonna need you to walk me through what happened and then explain what your thoughts are about the situation."

The blonde followed his example and set her dish aside before recounting the events of the afternoon. She told him about her angry musings while wandering the streets of Bushwick before ending up at Elliott's doorstep.

When she finished, Elliott had a better understanding of what went down. And he definitely could tell that she was mad, but he still wasn't sure why she seemed so outraged when it had been so obvious that Santana was with someone else.

He decided to broach the subject gently, not wanting to upset her further, "Are you going to talk to her about this?"

"I told her to lose my number," Dani explained, "I doubt she'll listen, but it's not like I have to answer if she calls or tries to text me."

"So, you're just never going to see her again?" Elliott asked, knowing that wasn't the best way to resolve an extremely complicated situation.

"What am I supposed to do, Elliott?" Dani asked in exasperation, "She has a girlfriend! It's not like we can keep sneaking around now that it's out in the open."

The pieces began to click together and he gave a nod of understanding, "That's what the anger is about. You're not as much mad at Santana as upset that the hook-ups have to stop."

"Of course I'm mad at her, she's been lying to me for months!"

"Save it," Elliott said as he put a hand up, "I'm sure there's a part of you that's mad that she's in a relationship, but what brought you to my doorstep tonight is your frustration that you can't pretend not to know anymore."

Dani looked ready to protest, but held Elliott's knowing gaze until she sank back further into the couch. "It was just going so well," she said in a soft voice, "And it was such a perfect situation. I'm not looking for anything serious right now; I'm always with the band, I work weird hours, and don't have time to be a good girlfriend. Plus, you know the band and I have talked about going to LA if things keep stalling with the record label we've been in contact with out here. With Santana, I didn't have to worry about her wanting to get serious. We could just meet up whenever it was convenient and have really amazing sex. She's hot, she's good in bed, and she's fun to be around. That combination doesn't come around all that often."

Elliott took a moment to process everything his friend had said, "Not that I'm advocating cheating, because I'm really not, but if the situation with Santana is so perfect, then why are you convinced it has to end? The only thing that changed is that now you two can't play dumb about her girlfriend."

"It's just different now," Dani said with a sigh, "I guess part of me was hoping that if she was in a relationship, it wasn't going well or her girlfriend was a bitch. Any reason to justify the behavior. But her girlfriend seemed nice. There's no reason Santana should want to be with me."

"Be with you?" Elliott repeated, wondering if despite Dani's claims of not wanting anything serious, there was some underlying desire for a relationship with her ex.

"I mean, like, have sex with me or whatever," she clarified with a roll of her eyes, "I know why I'm sleeping with her, but I don't get why she's risking her relationship to sleep with me."

Elliott gave a small nod as he caught on to what she was saying. He still wasn't entirely convinced there weren't deeper feelings, but that wasn't something he was going to delve into tonight. "Would that make a difference?"

"What?" Dani asked, a confused frown on her face.

"If you knew why she was cheating on her girlfriend with you, would that make a difference in your decision to keep seeing her?"

Dani didn't seem any less confused as she considered the question, but Elliott could tell she at least understood what he was asking, even if she wasn't sure of her answer, "I don't know."

There was a pause as Dani continued to be lost in her thoughts, while Elliott became wrapped up in his own thoughts. Eventually, he turned on the TV just to spare them from the silence that filled the apartment as they ate their dinner. Dani left not long after they finished eating and Elliott wished he knew what was going through her head as she headed out of his apartment. After cleaning up the dishes, he returned to his own thoughts, which all pointed to the same conclusion - he needed to talk to Santana.

* * *

A/N: Let me know your thoughts on this chapter! I know the last two chapters have been pretty short, but hopefully the faster updates make up for it.


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey Elliott."

Elliott glanced up in time to see Santana making her way towards the table he had staked out in the busy coffee shop. He could tell from her expression that she was nervous and gave her a friendly smile as she sat down, "Don't worry, I'm not here to fight you. Besides, I think we both know you would win."

Santana gave him a small, cautiously amused smile as she sat down across from him, "I take it Dani told you about what happened?"

Elliott nodded, not surprised that Santana wanted to get straight to the point. Even through text he could tell she was confused about why he wanted to meet up in the first place. "I'm not going to give you a lecture or interrogate you, I just want to talk."

Santana gave a nod of understanding, but didn't seem any less tense as she waited for him to start talking.

"I guess the first thing I want to ask is why?"

"Why?" Santana repeated, her confused expression indicating that she wasn't quite grasping the full question.

"If you're still with your girlfriend, why did you cheat on her with Dani - I mean, I'm assuming it's the same girl you left her for."

Santana winced slightly before nodding, "Yeah," she said quietly, "It's the same person."

Elliott nodded, having assumed as much. He waited for Santana to answer the initial question.

"I don't really know why," Santana admitted, "I know that's not a good answer, but I've been really trying to avoid thinking about things for the past few months, so it may take me a minute."

Elliott could understand that, so he decided to give her someplace a little easier to start, "Have you cheated on your girlfriend with other women, or just Dani?"

"No," Santana gave him an irritated look, before seeming to realize it was a valid question, "Just Dani," she confirmed.

"Do you love your girlfriend?" He asked, wondering if changing feelings had anything to do with her indiscretion.

Santana stared at the stable as she nodded, as if afraid to meet his gaze.

"So it's something about Dani then," he reasoned, getting a confused glance from his companion. "If you're still in love with your girlfriend and you haven't cheated on her before, there has to be some reason you went after Dani again."

Santana seemed to consider that for a moment before speaking, "When I first saw Dani perform with her band, I was stunned. I mean, she's always beautiful and amazing, but there's just something about her when she's in her element on stage."

Elliott gave a small nod of agreement; even though he was gay, he knew exactly what Santana was talking about.

"I couldn't get her off my mind after that night. I was basically cyberstalking her because I didn't know what else to do. I knew she wouldn't want to see me after the way I ended things. But I just had to see her. I needed to figure out if that first time I saw her was merely surprise and curiosity, or if it was something more than that. So I went to the next show and, well, you already know about the make out session after the show."

"So it was something more," Elliott replied, "What, exactly?"

Santana gave a small shrug, "I don't know. I just feel this pull towards Dani. I always have, ever since the first time I saw her at the diner. It's just this craving to be around her and get to know her," she sighed and shook her head, "I know that sounds dumb, but I can't explain it. I've always been captivated by Dani and I guess that never went away."

"But you broke up with her," Elliott pointed out, wondering how Santana could so easily go from being captivated by someone to dumping them.

Santana looked guilty as she glanced out the window, "I never wanted to hurt her," she explained before re-focusing her attention on Elliott. "Everything with Dani happened so fast. We went from co-workers who glanced at each other from afar one day to girlfriends the next. On top of that, we were in the band together and around each other all the time."

"So, what? You got tired of spending time with her?" Elliott questioned, confused as to what she was trying to say.

"No," Santana replied, appearing to be frustrated at the misunderstanding, "Not at all. It's just that I had never met anyone like Dani. I hadn't even been with an actual lesbian before, let alone one who was so effortlessly cool and confident and funny." Santana paused and sighed, "When we were dating, I was never completely myself. It wasn't Dani's fault or anything, but I was constantly trying to impress her and keep her interested."

Elliott opened his mouth to refute the ridiculous notion, but Santana raised a hand to stop him.

"I know it might not make sense, but that's how I felt at the time. When I went home to Lima and saw Brittany again, it was just so easy and comfortable. She already knew me and everything about me. I didn't have to try and impress anyone." She stared at the table and shook her head, "I love Brittany, I probably always will even if we don't end up together. She was my first love. My first girlfriend. Things with her are just easy because we've been best friends for years."

"Just because it's easier with a first love, doesn't mean it can't be great with someone else," Elliott pointed out gently.

"I know," Santana replied, "And I've always felt guilty that I never gave my relationship with Dani a real chance. We were still in the early 'getting to know you' stage and I left for something familiar." She paused and a soft smile crossed her face, "But these past few months with Dani have been amazing. I don't feel that need to be perfect or prove I'm worthy of her. I can just spend time with her, and yes, most of the time it's about sex, but there are times when we can just talk and joke around and get to know each other in a way we never got to before." There was a brief pause as Santana dropped her gaze once more, "But I guess that's over now."

Elliott picked up on a similar wistfulness that he had seen in Dani the night before, "It seems like you don't want it to be."

"I know I'm a shitty person for cheating on my girlfriend," Santana said, as if worried Elliott would judge her for her response, "But I've been happier ever since Dani's been back in my life. I don't want to lose her again."

"But you're not going to breakup with your girlfriend either?"

Santana seemed to struggle with the answer, "No…I don't know…maybe," she let out a frustrated huff, "I don't want to lose either of them. And I know that's not fair, but I just haven't figured things out yet."

Elliott was somewhat relieved that Santana hadn't been completely using Dani all this time; although he wished she had a clearer idea of who she wanted to be with. He certainly had his own opinions about the situation, but at the end of the day, it was between Santana and Dani. His phone began to vibrate and he pulled it out to see a familiar name on the screen.

He let out an amused chuckle that she should choose to call at this very moment and answered on the third ring, "Hey, D. What's up?" He bit back a laugh at the way Santana's eyes widened as she realized who was calling.

"I just wanted to call and thank you for last night. I know I was a bit of a mess and all over the place emotionally, but talking really helped. I feel a bit better today."

"Oh yeah?" Elliott questioned, noticing Santana seemed frustrated that she couldn't hear the other end of the call, "Have you decided what you're gonna do?"

"No," Dani heaved a sigh, "I know I should just be done with her, but I can't bring myself to accept that."

Elliott let out a hum as he met Santana's curious gaze, "Hey, I'm over at the coffee shop we usually go to on 14th street. Why don't you meet me here so we can talk."

"Sure, I just finished meeting with the band, so I have some time to spare," Dani replied, "I'll see you in fifteen."

Elliott hung up the call and glanced at Santana who seemed both surprised and confused, "Dani's coming here?"

He nodded, "You two need to have an actual talk about this. I'm happy to give you privacy, but I think I should stick around for a little while to make sure there's no bloodshed."

Santana gave him a nervous smile, "Is she really mad?"

"She seemed a little less angry today," he admitted, "But I would not have wanted to run into her in a dark alley last night, if I were you."

Santana nodded and seemed to be trying hard to keep a straight face, but after a moment a small smirk slipped through.

Elliott rolled his eyes, "Why does everything go back to sex with you two?" His comment hadn't even been all that sexual, but he figured Santana's mind had gone straight to what she would want to do in a dark alley with Dani.

"It's not my fault," Santana protested, "Just last weekend we were at a bar and ended up having sex in the alley because it would have been at least twenty minutes to get to her apartment and we couldn't wait."

Elliott frowned, "Wait, last weekend was the show…did you two have sex outside of the bar when we were all still inside?"

The guilty yet smug look he received from Santana was all the answer he needed, "I'll never be able to look at that bar the same way again," he whined before standing up. "I'm going to get coffee while we wait for Dani, you should wipe that smirk off your face before she gets here."

Ten minutes later, he and Santana were holding a surprisingly civil conversation about music when he caught sight of a familiar blonde enter the coffee shop. He held up a hand to signal to his friend through the crowded shop and she sent him a brief smile as she began making her way through the maze of tables and chairs.

He could tell the exact moment she caught sight of who he was with as her expression shifted from neutral to shock to anger in the span of about three seconds.

"What is she doing here?" Dani hissed to Elliott as she reached the table, crossing her arms as she stood behind the empty chair instead of sitting down.

"Hi Dani," Santana said gently, but she was ignored by the blonde who continued to glare at Elliott.

"After our conversation last night, I wanted to hear her side of things," he explained, "It's pretty obvious you two have a lot to work out, so when you called, I thought it would be a good opportunity for the two of you to talk."

"I have nothing to say to her," Dani replied, still refusing to look at the other woman.

"Really? Because you had an awful lot to say last night," Elliott pointed out.

"Well, I could spend the next hour cursing her out for being a cheater, but I don't think that's appropriate in a public setting."

"That's not what I meant," Elliott admonished as he glanced between the two women, "We all know this isn't an ideal situation. Regardless, neither of you seem willing to let go of whatever it is you have."

He watched as Dani finally glanced over at Santana, who was watching her with a cautiously optimistic expression.

"Fine, we'll talk," Dani agreed as she took the empty chair.

Elliott noticed the surprised look on Santana's face, clearly she hadn't expected Dani to agree to talk things out. A silence fell over the table and it quickly became obvious no one knew where to start.

"Alright, I suppose I'll be the moderator for today's discussion," Elliott joked, getting an unamused glance from Dani, while Santana merely kept her gaze fixed on the blonde.

"First of all, this is for you," Elliott pushed the coffee he had bought for his friend closer, hoping the free drink would ease the tension. Dani gave a small nod of appreciation as she took the cup.

"Let's just get the facts out on the table," he said as he glanced between his companions, "Santana has a girlfriend." Dani scowled as she stared at her coffee cup while Santana dropped her gaze to her lap. "Which we all knew, even if it wasn't blatantly stated until yesterday." He gave Dani a pointed look, and she seemed to know better than to make the same protests she had made the night before. "Despite this, you slept with each other for three months and neither of you seem to want to stop. So I think both of you need to say what it is you want out of this…arrangement."

A heavy silence fell once more over the table as both women refused to be the first to talk. Elliott breathed a heavy sigh before fixing his gaze on the blonde, "Dani, you first."

"What? Why?" Dani whined before catching sight of Elliott's exasperated expression, "Ugh, fine." The blonde stalled for time as she took a sip of her coffee before launching into a similar version of the explanation she'd given Elliott the night before, "I'm not looking for anything serious right now. I'm way too busy with work and the band, and I don't even know if we'll be in New York much longer. So it's been really nice to have great sex without any strings attached."

"And," Elliott said in a pointed way, knowing Santana wouldn't want to share her reasons unless Dani got more personal.

The blonde returned his stare for a moment, trying to face off in a battle of determination before giving in and casting her gaze over to Santana, "And you're obviously hot and good in bed and just fun to be around. I've had a great time with you over the past couple months."

Santana gave a small smile, "I've had a really great time too. I know I shouldn't have pursued you since I'm not exactly single, but I can't say I regret it either because I feel like we've gotten to know each other way better over the past several weeks than we did when we were dating. Without the stress of the band and the diner and having to share our time with Gayberry, our time together is just between us. I don't know what I want out of this, other than not wanting this to be over. The sex is incredible and you're so funny and talented and hot…I don't want to give that up - especially if you're not looking for anything serious anyway."

Elliott watched as the two women held each other's gaze, Santana seeming to plead with Dani to give her another chance while Dani still seemed uncertain.

"What about your girlfriend?" Dani said quietly, "She almost caught us. She's going to find out about this at some point."

Santana gave a small nod, "I think it's a little too late for that to be a concern," she admitted with a shrug, "We've already been sleeping together for months. I'm going to have to come clean eventually, but in the mean time…"

Elliott frowned at Santana's horrible logic. Just because she'd already cheated on her girlfriend dozens of times with Dani, it didn't justify continued cheating until they were caught or decided to stop. However, Dani let out a small chuckle and Elliott knew right away that the two women would be back in bed together before the end of the day.

"So we just keep having sex until one of us gets bored and calls it off?" Dani asked.

Santana seemed to hesitate before giving Dani an almost shy look, "I don't know about you, but I don't want this to just be about sex. I've had a lot of fun with you when we do other stuff too. Like when we went out with your bandmates after the show last weekend, or that night you threw your back out in the middle of sex and we ended up just watching a movie."

"I didn't throw my back out," Dani hissed, "I had a muscle spasm in my lower back."

"Same thing, grandma," Santana said with a teasing smirk, which turned into a laugh when Dani swatted her arm.

Elliott was glad to be spared further details, but knew he needed to make his exit before things became heated, "So everything's good again?"

Dani and Santana glanced his way, as if surprised he was still there since they were starting to get lost in their own world.

"Yeah," Dani said as she shared a smile with Santana, "I guess this is gonna become more of a friends with benefits thing, which is a step above just being a side piece."

Santana rolled her eyes, but seemed relieved to be back on good terms. Elliott could tell that there was something more going on that neither woman seemed willing to acknowledge. They were both setting themselves up for pain and heartbreak, which could only mean there were deeper feelings involved. However, he wasn't going to play couples therapist any longer, they needed to come to terms with things on their own.

"I should head out," he announced as he stood up, barely getting an acknowledgment from the two women who weren't about to protest his departure. "Dani, we're still getting dinner on Thursday?"

The blonde nodded and gave him a small wave, clearly more interested in reconnecting with Santana.

"Thanks, Elliott," Santana said as she tore her gaze from Dani to glance up at him, "I really appreciate you asking me to meet up today and hearing me out."

"Of course," he replied with a nod, "And just to be clear. I don't condone what's going on here," he said as he gestured between them, "But you're both adults. Just make sure to actually talk about stuff from now on. I don't want my friends getting hurt." He gave Santana a meaningful look, indicating the warning was meant exclusively for her. He was nervous about this situation and was afraid it would end up with Dani being left behind, but he also knew better than to try and control her decisions like an overprotective parent. He never wanted her to feel like she had to sneak around and lie about being with Santana because she was afraid he wouldn't approve. If things went in the direction he feared, Dani would need someone to pick up the pieces even more than the first time Santana broke her heart.

Santana gave a small nod to indicate she understood what he was saying. The gesture did little to reassure Elliott, but he knew there wasn't much he could do. He bid his friends goodbye before leaving the coffee shop, hoping that there would somehow be a happy ending in all of this.

* * *

A/N: Please review and let me know what you think! I know the argument/drama was fairly short-lived, but there is still plenty more to come!


	12. Chapter 12

Dani rushed into the restaurant; she was already twenty minutes late and felt guilty for not even sending a warning that she was running late.

"Hey, I'm so sorry," she apologized as she dropped breathlessly onto the chair opposite her dinner companion, "I got held up at the studio, and my phone died like an hour ago, so I couldn't call or text, and then of course the stupid subway-"

"Hey, relax," Santana said with an amused smile as she placed a hand over Dani's to calm the frazzled blonde. "I was late too, Rachel was being unusually needy and wondering why she couldn't join me for dinner. It took me forever to finally get her off my back."

Dani let out a small chuckle, feeling her anxiety melt away since Santana wasn't frustrated in the slightest about her delay. "Literally? Because the image of you giving Rachel a piggyback ride is adorable."

"Ugh, it feels like it sometimes," she muttered, "She and Lady Hummel are all up in my business 24/7. It's a miracle I haven't completely lost it on them yet."

"Why don't you just move out?" Dani asked.

"Believe me, I want to," Santana replied, "But as I still have yet to find a job that I don't want to quit in a week, I can't afford to pay actual rent."

Dani nodded, wondering how much Brittany made and if she couldn't just afford to support them both until Santana found a job she liked. However, she wasn't about to ask. It had been two weeks since 'the conversation' and since then, she and Santana had been spending time as friends in addition to hooking up. They didn't want to risk a repeat run-in at the loft, so daytime hook-ups at Santana's had been replaced with lunch dates or coffee breaks. They had recently gotten over the residual awkwardness from their mini-fight, but the unspoken agreement was that they still didn't acknowledge Santana's relationship.

As she considered Santana's predicament, she realized she did know of a potential job opportunity, "Hey, so I don't know if you'd even be interested, but the studio the band and I record in is looking for a new receptionist."

"Really?" Santana asked, her interest piqued, "What happened to that annoying, anxious girl who was there before?"

Dani chuckled as she thought back to the first time Santana had dropped by the studio, "She was fired. Turns out she was really bad at handling confrontation, which is kind of necessary when you have artists with huge egos fighting over the right to book a particular room whenever they want."

Santana considered that for a moment, "I've applied for a bunch of receptionist jobs, but I never even get called in for an interview because I have no experience."

Dani shrugged, "It's a small studio, I can put in a good word with the guy who runs the place. I can't guarantee it will do much - but I can definitely promise him you'll be better than the last girl."

"That's true," Santana agreed, "I can easily deal with annoying, egotistical artists - look at who I live with."

Dani chuckled at that, "So you're interested? I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you to apply."

"Of course I'm interested, it's a job at a place where I might actually make industry connections. Plus, I get to see a lot more of you. Sounds like a win-win to me." Santana gave a flirtatious smile as she took Dani's hand in her own.

Dani grinned at that, the idea of seeing Santana more often definitely had been a motivating factor behind her decision to mention the job in the first place, "Alright, I'll talk to the studio manager tomorrow."

"You're amazing," Santana said she stroked a thumb over Dani's hand, "After dinner we should head back to your place so I can thank you for your brilliant idea."

"I'm not gonna argue with that," Dani said with a playful smirk. She dropped her gaze to the menu, but found she had a hard time focusing when her mind was already fixated on thoughts of what would come after dinner.

* * *

Dani made good on her promise to talk to the studio manager about hiring Santana. Her recommendation got Santana an interview, and the stunning Latina's looks made up for her lack of experience and she was offered the job that same day. Dani was glad to be able to help Santana out, but even more delighted by the way Santana very enthusiastically thanked her for helping her get the job.

The day Santana was set to begin her new job, Dani felt more excited than usual to go to the studio. She and the band had scheduled time in a sound booth to record one of their newer songs. They were still working on getting enough decent material together for an EP in the hopes that they'd get some recognition from record labels other than the one that had been playing hot and cold with them for the past few months.

Dani strolled confidently into the building, her gaze finding Santana behind the front desk right away. Since it was her first day and she had zero experience, she was being trained by one of the night shift receptionists. Dani found it adorable to see Santana all professional and hard at work. It made her think back to their days working at the Spotlight Diner together. It had always been a real challenge to keep her mind on the job when someone as gorgeous as Santana was around, especially after they started dating.

Since Santana looked busy, she avoided the temptation to go over, but caught her gaze and sent a friendly wink before making her way over to the sound booth they had reserved.

"Hey Dani," Max greeted as Dani entered the room.

"Hey," Dani greeted Toby and Max, who were the first two to arrive. "Any word on Pete?"

"He and his roommate are on their way over," Toby announced, "Although I don't see why he insists on bringing Vince. I can work the soundboard myself and then we don't have to waste money paying him to do it."

Dani and Max exchanged a look. Pete's roommate had majored in music production in college and was their go-to guy when it came to recording a song. Toby had watched a few YouTube videos and claimed he was just as good, but the songs always sounded noticeably worse whenever they let Toby attempt to do it.

"It just makes it easier to have Vince do it so you don't have to keep running between the soundboard and recording booth," Dani explained, hoping it would ease Toby's obvious irritation at not getting to be in charge of the controls.

He grumbled something about being better, but dropped the topic much to the others' relief.

"By the way," Max said, his attention turning to Dani, "Is that Santana I saw at the front desk?"

"Maybe," Dani said with a coy smile.

"Lesbians are so different from straight guys," Toby commented, "I don't know any dudes who would want their girlfriend to work at the same place as them."

"She's not my girlfriend," Dani corrected, not wanting the guys to ever make a comment like that around Santana. "We just hang out and have fun together. She was looking for a job and I knew this place was trying to find a receptionist, so I put in a good word. That's all."

"Mhmm," Max said with a knowing smirk, "And I bet she was very appreciative of that."

"See, this is why I never want to talk to you all about women," she said as she looked between her bandmates, "I don't even want to know what's going on in your head right now."

"You really don't," Max agreed, laughing and dodging Dani's attempt to smack his arm.

The door opened and Pete and Vince wandered into the room.

"Did you guys see the babe at the front desk? I might have to hang out with you all more often," Vince commented with a grin.

"Careful," Pete warned, a smirk firmly in place as he looked in Dani's direction, "That 'babe' at the front desk is already taken by our little Dani over there."

"We're not together," Dani repeated, really hoping to clear up any confusion before it became an uncomfortable moment in front of Santana. "But she is exclusively into women, so you don't have a chance," she told Vince, feeling a bit proud that she got to sleep with such a stunning woman on a regular basis.

"Bummer, although the lesbian thing is pretty hot too," Vince said as he checked Dani out.

"Oh god," the blonde groaned, "Can we please just start working on the song? I swear I can hear your thoughts and I'm about two seconds from running out the door."

"I don't think it's _our_ thoughts you're hearing," Pete teased, "It's okay, Dani. You're among friends. Feel free to share what's on your mind."

"No," she said as she pointed a warning finger at Pete, "I'm going in the recording booth, if we don't start working on this in the next five minutes, I'm leaving."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Max saluted as he stood up to follow her.

Dani rolled her eyes as she headed into the booth. This was definitely not something she had anticipated when she offered to help Santana get the job. She wondered how much teasing she would endure before the intrigue and excitement died down.

* * *

The answer turned out to be two weeks. During that time, Dani tried to avoid being caught talking to Santana when she showed up at the studio. On the occasions one of her band members arrived after her, they couldn't resist making a sly comment or letting out a whistle to tease the two women. It was harmless and seemed to thoroughly amuse Santana, but Dani was still glad when the sight of her and Santana talking no longer elicited much reaction from the guys.

Dani was also glad that the arrangement seemed to be working out wonderfully for both her and Santana. It was so much more convenient to grab lunch or coffee when they were working out of the same building several days a week. It became almost routine to grab dinner on the way back to Dani's place, where they could eat and have sex or watch TV before Santana needed to head home to appease her curious roommates. As soon as the teasing from the bandmates died down, the guys were even invited along on some of the lunch outings or after work drinks. Though there was the occasional teasing comment from time to time, her bandmates seemed to genuinely get along with Santana, which pleased Dani even though she knew she shouldn't be so invested in whether or not her friends liked the woman she was casually sleeping with.

Another benefit of Santana working at the studio was that they once again had a place for their daytime hook-ups. Dani was incredibly grateful to have access to so many soundproof rooms, because seeing Santana in her short, tight, barely-qualifying-as-professional, work clothes had yet to stop having an effect on her.

Dani walked into the studio with her usual content smile. There was no denying that she'd been much happier over the past few weeks since she and Santana had actually discussed their complicated situation.

"Good morning, Dani," Santana greeted in her professional tone.

The blonde grinned as she made her way over to the front desk. She could tell from the smirk on Santana's face that she was already turned on. "Good morning, Santana," she returned the greeting as she let her gaze roam over the low-cut blouse and pencil skirt the other woman was wearing. "Are the guys already here?"

"Toby's running late, so Pete went out for coffee and Max is in your usual room taking a nap," she informed the blonde.

"How do you know all this?" Dani teased, not surprised in the least that Santana was in the loop about her band members' whereabouts.

"Pete filled me in before he left," Santana explained, "I guess for some reason he thought you might stop by on your way in."

Dani chuckled, "It seems like I have some time to kill."

"It does," Santana agreed with a smirk.

"And unless I'm mistaken, it's just about time for your morning break," Dani said as she made a show of glancing at the clock on the wall. It suddenly made sense as to why Santana had looked so horny before she'd even arrived.

Santana beckoned her closer with one finger. Dani immediately obeyed, leaning over the counter until Santana could whisper in her ear, "Dani, I'm so wet for you. I need you to fuck me."

Dani let out a quiet moan at the comment; Santana's words shot straight to her core and she was instantly as aroused as the woman in front of her. Wordlessly, she pushed away from the desk and began heading to their usual room. The fact that it was the same room they had first hooked up in four months ago wasn't lost on either of them.

As soon as Santana closed the door behind them, Dani was eagerly pinning the beautiful woman to the wall as her mouth claimed Santana's in a hungry kiss. She caught Santana's lower lip between her teeth and gently tugged, drawing a low moan from the other woman.

Santana's hands wrapped around Dani's waist, pulling the blonde flush against her as she slipped her tongue into her mouth to deepen the kiss.

They exchanged increasingly passionate kisses until Santana seemed to have enough teasing and moved her hands to Dani's shoulders to encourage her to move down.

Dani smirked at the gesture as she pulled away from the kiss. Santana always seemed to prefer Dani on her knees in this room and she had a feeling it was because of the way she had left Santana desperate for release after their first encounter in this very room all those months ago. However, Dani didn't have a problem with Santana's unspoken need for her to atone for her behavior by getting on her knees and bringing her the ultimate pleasure. In a quick move, she dropped to the floor and pushed the black pencil skirt up around the other woman's waist.

Santana used one hand to hold her skirt in place while the other immediately grabbed a firm hold of blonde hair.

Knowing they didn't have time to waste, Dani slid the soaked panties down Santana's thighs, choosing to forgo a comment about how wet she really was for her. She could tell how desperate Santana was from the way she immediately pulled the blonde's head forward, not giving her a chance to tease. The commanding move only heightened Dani's own arousal as she eagerly began licking through Santana's wet folds, drawing an appreciative moan from the woman who had her head thrown back against the wall.

Dani's tongue slowly circled Santana's entrance before she slipped it further inside to gently tease until the grip on her hair tightened and she knew Santana was desperate for more. She leisurely dragged her tongue along the length of her slit before delivering a series of rapid licks to her clit, drawing a gasp from the other woman who arched her hips further into Dani's mouth.

The blonde smirked at the reaction and sucked the swollen nub between her lips, getting a needy whimper in return. At this point, she knew exactly what Santana needed and lifted a hand to slide two fingers into her. She was rewarded with a loud moan and was grateful for the soundproof room, as they would not be able to get away with this in any other public setting.

"Fuck, Dani," Santana murmured as she held the blonde's head in place while bucking her hips ever so slightly in rhythm with the fingers thrusting inside her, "It feels so good."

Despite hearing similar comments numerous times over the past few months, Dani never got tired of it. In fact, she never got tired of anything having to do with Santana.

As she circled Santana's clit with her tongue, applying just the right amount of pressure she knew she needed to get off, she couldn't help but watch the other woman's expression. Santana wasn't looking at her, her eyes were tightly closed and she seemed intently focused on her impending release; yet, she still looked absolutely gorgeous. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth, but it did little to quiet the sounds that were now easily slipping out of her mouth.

With a well-timed curl of her fingers that she knew would do the trick, she watched Santana come undone, moaning Dani's name after letting out a series of curse words. After she was sure Santana had come down from her high, she withdrew her fingers and sucked them clean before standing up to capture her lips in a heated kiss. She fixed the other woman's skirt as best she could while her tongue was in Santana's mouth and only pulled away when she felt a hand at her zipper.

"I can't," she protested as she caught Santana's wrist to stop her actions, "I'm sure the guys are waiting on me by now."

"They can wait a little longer then," Santana shot back as she tried to break free from Dani's hold on her wrist.

"And when they come to look for me because they can't help but notice you've been gone a while too?"

Santana grinned as she tore her hand from Dani's grip and used it to push the blonde against the door, "Well, now they can't get in."

Dani quirked an eyebrow, "You're really fine with them knowing we're having sex in here?"

"Oh please, like they haven't suspected as much already," Santana replied as she moved her hand back to Dani's zipper.

Dani couldn't argue with that and decided to just let herself enjoy this, even if she was going to get shit later from her bandmates.

"I'm surprised you were actually trying to stop me," Santana said as her fingers slipped into Dani's panties, "Do you know how wet you are?"

"Yes," Dani hissed at the contact, knowing exactly how turned on she was.

Santana removed her hand and held up two fingers that were coated with evidence of Dani's arousal, "Absolutely soaked for me and you were still trying to leave."

Dani could tell that Santana was in a playful mood and possibly punishing her for trying to cut things short by prolonging the teasing, "Santana, please," she begged as she pushed her own jeans and panties down her thighs to speed up the encounter.

Santana smirked as she slipped her fingers into her mouth, taking her time to clean them off while Dani let out a needy whimper and watched with hooded eyes. "Please what?"

"Please fuck me," Dani replied, knowing that the easiest way to end Santana's games was to play along rather than try and be difficult.

"Only because you're such a good girl," Santana replied as she returned her hand between Dani's thighs, gently stroking through her wetness before slipping a single finger inside.

Dani let out a groan, knowing that the other woman was nowhere near finished teasing her. She tried to be patient, but Santana refused to do anything other than move one finger slowly in and out of her, "Please," she repeated, "I need more," she knew begging was always a good way to stroke Santana's ego and get what she wanted.

Santana let out a thoughtful hum and increased her pace, "Is that better?"

Dani moaned at the faster pace as it was a definite improvement from the slow torture. It wasn't enough, but it was a start, "More," she instructed before catching herself, "Please," she added.

"Oh, is one finger not enough for you?" Santana asked, playing naive even though she knew Dani needed more. In a quick move, Santana pulled out before entering her with three fingers, causing Dani to cry out at the intrusion, "Is this what you need?"

"Yes!" Dani choked out as she tried to focus on answering Santana's question. It was much harder to pay attention now that Santana's fingers were filling her and keeping up the fast pace she had set with a single finger.

Santana seemed pleased with the reaction she elicited as she used her other hand to rub tight circles over Dani's clit, drawing even more sounds from the blonde, "Aren't you glad you decided to stay?"

Dani let out a hum of agreement, finding it hard to answer as her orgasm steadily began to build.

"You should have realized by now that I'm always right," Santana practically purred as she smirked at the blonde.

Dani wasn't whipped enough to play along with that statement and stayed quiet as a silent challenge, even holding back sounds of pleasure in case they were taken as agreement.

Santana stilled the movement of both hands, which drew a frustrated groan from Dani, "Is there something you want to say, Dani?"

Dani shook her head, wanting Santana to get back to what she was doing because she had been so close to her climax.

"Am I always right?" Santana challenged with a playful smirk.

Dani knew now wasn't the time to be stubborn, especially because she desperately needed to get off, "Yes, you're always right," she acquiesced, but in a tone that indicated she was more desperate than sincere.

Santana continued to smirk, but began moving the fingers still inside of Dani very, very slowly.

Dani groaned at the torturous pace, but wasn't surprised Santana was punishing her for her initial silence, "Please, Santana," she begged, hoping her voice conveyed her current distress over the slow pace.

"Tell me what you want," Santana encouraged as she leaned in to nip at Dani's earlobe.

Dani realized that Santana was in the mood to hear her ask explicitly for what she needed, "I need you to fuck me hard," she instructed, letting out a whimper as Santana's next thrust was particularly deep, but still slow, "And fast," she amended her initial statement, rewarded a moment later by Santana picking up her pace. Dani let out a moan and focused on the feel of the fingers moving inside of her. She could feel her orgasm beginning to build once more as Santana kissed along her neck, "I need your fingers back on my clit," she moaned, annoyed when Santana did as she asked but just kept her hand there without moving, as if she didn't know what Dani needed.

The blonde let out a groan, needing Santana to just give her what she wanted because she was so close, "Please babe, I need you to get me off," she begged, unable to handle any more teasing. As soon as it left her mouth, she began to panic. Santana wasn't her girlfriend and they definitely didn't use cute pet names with one another, but in her state of desperation, the term of endearment she had once used so often with her ex came tumbling out of her mouth. She felt Santana's pace falter and she knew right away the other woman had definitely picked up on it and was probably freaking out. However, only a second later, Santana resumed a hard and fast pace with both hands, working Dani towards her climax.

Dani let out a startled moan, not expecting Santana to resume her actions so enthusiastically. Although she was still worried about her slip up, she was having trouble concentrating on anything other than her rapidly building orgasm. It wasn't long before she came with a loud moan, her back arching away from the door.

Santana pulled back, a smug smile on her face as she continued to work her fingers in and out of Dani until the blonde gently pushed her away.

Dani wasn't sure whether Santana's expression was a reaction to getting her off or amusement over her slip-up. Either way, she still felt mildly embarrassed, especially now that she could think a little clearer. "I should, um, get going," she explained as she quickly pulled up her pants.

Santana gave a little hum, smirk still firmly in place as she watched the flustered Dani try to get herself together, "You might want to stop by the bathroom first," she mentioned as Dani stepped away from the door in order to grab the handle, "The sex hair is a dead give away," she explained with a playful wink as she grabbed Dani's ass before placing her hand over the blonde's on the handle to open the door and slip outside.

Dani took a moment to pull herself together before quickly rushing to the nearest bathroom, praying she didn't run into any of her bandmates along the way.

* * *

A/N: Please review! The next chapter will be short and essentially just pure smut with a hint of plot, sorry if that's not your thing.


	13. Chapter 13

Santana stretched, noticing the areas of her body that were already starting to feel sore after a very passionate few hours with Dani. She reached over to the other side of the bed to check her phone and noticed she had a new text from Elliott, which was more than a little surprising.

A smile spread across her face as she read the message, which is how Dani found her as she walked in carrying two glasses of water. Santana accepted the glass as she glanced up from her phone, "Elliott just invited me to the karaoke bar for his birthday tomorrow."

"Oh yeah?" Dani asked, her eyebrows raising in surprise.

Santana nodded, not blaming Dani for looking so shocked since that was her initial reaction as well. "I think he's starting to like me again."

Dani smiled and set her glass on her nightstand before she climbed back into bed, "Well I can't blame him, you can be very charming when you want to be."

Santana smirked as she leaned in to kiss Dani before pulling back with a frown, "Wait, did you just go into the kitchen naked?"

Dani glanced down as if to confirm she was still nude and then nodded in confusion, "Yeah."

"You have roommates!" Santana protested in disbelief as she set her glass next to Dani's.

"They're both out for the night, you know that."

"They could have come back."

Dani furrowed her brow and appeared to be deep in thought for a moment before her expression lit up and she grinned, "Jealous, are we?"

Santana scoffed, "Jealous of hippie chick with the insufferable boyfriend and Todd, the most boring man alive? Yeah, absolutely not."

"Jealous that someone else might have seen me naked," Dani corrected as she moved over to straddle Santana, giving the woman underneath her a wonderful view of her body.

Santana let her eyes explore the blonde's body, "Not jealous," she repeated as she ran her hands along Dani's curves.

"So, it's cool if I just hang around my apartment naked more often?"

Santana roughly grabbed Dani's ass, causing the blonde to gasp in surprise, falling forward but catching herself with her hands on the mattress as she gazed down at Santana.

The two exchanged a long look; although Santana didn't voice the words aloud, the possessive grip she had on Dani along with the intense look she was giving her made it clear what she wanted to express.

Dani swallowed roughly before leaning in to meet Santana's lips in a slow kiss. The slow pace didn't last long though before Santana flipped their positions so she could loom over Dani.

"Toys?" She questioned as she began to trail kisses down Dani's neck. The blonde gestured towards the top drawer of her dresser and Santana got off the bed to head towards the indicated location. She quickly found the strap-on that she and Dani had purchased at a sex shop near the studio that they had wandered into during Santana's lunch break the other week. She could feel Dani's gaze on her as she stepped into the harness and adjusted it so it fit perfectly on her slender hips. "Do we need this?" She asked as she held up the bottle of lube that they had purchased with the strap on; she smirked as Dani shook her head, her hungry gaze roaming Santana's body.

Santana moved back over to the bed and resumed her position on top of Dani, "This okay?" She asked gesturing towards the toy as she slipped her hand down to stroke Dani's center, quickly confirming that lube really wasn't needed.

Dani nodded and let out a breathy moan as she pushed herself harder against Santana's hand. Santana could tell that Dani was more than ready and wouldn't put up with any teasing, so she slipped two fingers inside, preparing the blonde for the toy that she would soon be using on her.

Dani bucked at the feel of Santana's fingers and locked eyes with the woman on top of her, "Please, Santana."

Santana knew that Dani had thrown in that 'please' on purpose, knowing that it would drive her absolutely crazy. She let out a sound that was close to a growl as she thrust her fingers roughly a few times before removing them and lining the toy up with Dani's entrance. She pushed in slowly, knowing that this was the first time they had used the new toy together and she assumed it had been a while since Dani last used one.

The blonde moaned and shifted her hips to get more comfortable as the silicone dildo slipped deeper inside.

Santana watched Dani's face closely, ready to pause at any indication of pain; however, Dani only showed slight discomfort at certain points as she adjusted to the feel of the intruding toy.

"You look so sexy," Santana murmured as she finished pushing the toy inside and leaned down to give Dani a passionate kiss.

Dani eagerly returned the kiss, but it wasn't long before she pushed Santana back, "I need you to fuck me now."

Santana grinned at that and slowly moved her hips until the dildo was almost out, after a bit of re-adjusting so she was at an optimal position, she thrust back inside, eliciting another moan from Dani.

Encouraged by the sound, Santana set a moderate pace, allowing them both to adjust to the sensation. It had been a while since she had last used a strap-on so she took her time getting used to the feel and adjusting to find a position she could easily maintain. She used one hand to encourage Dani's legs to wrap around her waist before sliding her hand up to grab a handful of the blonde's ass as she began to increase her pace.

"That feels so good," Dani moaned her encouragement, her hands sliding up her stomach to play with her own breasts, letting out a second moan at the added stimulation.

"Are you trying to turn me on?" Santana asked, as she watched Dani touching herself.

"Always," Dani replied with a smirk, letting a groan slip out as Santana hit a particularly pleasurable spot, "Yes, right there!"

Santana nodded at the instruction and changed the position of her hips so she could more easily angle her thrusts to hit Dani in just the right way. She was rewarded by a gasp from the blonde and watched as Dani slid one had down to rub her clit.

"I want to watch you ride me."

Dani smirked and nodded, removing her legs from around Santana's waist to allow the other woman to lay down on the bed.

"Seriously, how are you so hot?" Santana asked as Dani took her time straddling her before sinking down on the silicone toy. Instead of an answer, Dani let out a drawn out moan at the feel of being filled up again, which Santana appreciated even more than a response to her question.

She gave Dani time to adjust to the new position and set the pace. The blonde soon began to run her hands along her own curves, once again driving Santana crazy at the sight. She gripped Dani's hips and began thrusting up in time with the pace the blonde had set, driving the toy even deeper inside with each thrust.

"Fuck," Dani let out a whimper at the sensation and brought one hand up to grab a fistful of her blonde hair.

Santana smirked at the reaction and took over guiding the pace of their movements as best she could from her position beneath Dani. She could tell Dani was nearing her climax as she was getting more desperate for release, eagerly meeting Santana's hard thrusts.

"You getting close?" Santana asked, knowing the answer but enjoying the sight of Dani biting her lower lip and nodding in response. She reached over to rub Dani's clit as best she could given the rapid pace they had set.

"Come for me, babe."

Dani's gaze quickly met Santana's, her brown eyes burning with lust. Santana had been letting pet names slip ever since Dani had accidentally called her babe that day in the studio. She noticed the terms of endearment always had a significant effect on Dani's level of arousal. One more thrust did the blonde in and she came hard with a shout of Santana's name.

Santana slowed her thrusts, prolonging Dani's orgasm as long as possible before carefully pulling out. She removed the harness and tossed it towards the end of the bed before wrapping Dani in her arms and cuddling the woman still recovering from her blissful high.

"That was incredible," Dani murmured, a peaceful expression on her face as she nuzzled her face into Santana's neck.

Santana hummed her agreement as she held Dani close.

* * *

A/N: I don't even know what that was, but in my defense, I did warn everyone it would be short and pure smut. The next two chapters take place at Elliott's birthday party; I had a ton of fun writing these next couple chapters, so I really hope you all enjoy them. I'll try to have the first part posted this weekend.


	14. Chapter 14

"Who knew this many people would be here for 90's karaoke night?" Dani commented as she glanced around the packed bar. She was glad they had come early enough to stake out a few tables close together. Birthday boy Elliott was seated right between the two tables of his friends, with his school friends Dani didn't know very well at one table and her, Santana, and her bandmates at the other. It had made her happy that Elliott was not only close with her band, but was making an effort with Santana as well.

"Um, everyone knew that," Santana replied, "The 90's are in again."

Dani shrugged at that, "I'm not complaining, I've just never seen this place so busy. It will take forever to get drinks."

Santana chuckled at that, "Here I thought you were afraid that someone would steal your karaoke choice."

"That sounds like something you'd be worried about," Dani teased the other woman with a grin, "Besides, who said I'm even going to sing tonight?"

"I did. Everyone is singing!" An already tipsy Elliott demanded, having overheard the last part of the conversation between the two women.

Dani and Santana both chuckled and the blonde threw her hands up in defeat, "Alright, alright." She grabbed the song list and began flipping through, smiling when Santana moved in closer, running one hand up and down Dani's thigh as she looked over the list.

"It's a little hard to focus when you're doing that," Dani commented with a smirk, knowing that Santana was likely doing it unconsciously.

Santana glanced over and took a moment to figure out what she was doing before she slid her hand higher until her fingers were gently grazing over Dani's center, "Hmm, is this better?" She whispered to the blonde, her tongue tracing along the shell of her ear.

Dani gasped and squirmed against Santana's hand, before grabbing a hold of it and pushing it back down towards her knee, "You are evil."

"Dani, if your girlfriend wants to go to town on you right here at the table, it's fine by me," Pete teased as he took a sip of his beer.

"Not my girlfriend," Dani replied automatically. The band knew they weren't dating even if they didn't know the complexities of the relationship between the two women. However, it didn't stop them from referring to Santana as Dani's girlfriend to tease the blonde.

"Watching that would be a dream come true for you, wouldn't it Pete?" Santana shot back with a smirk, laughing when the guitarist nodded and raised his bottle to cheers her.

"There are so many songs in here," Dani huffed as she continued flipping through pages, trying to change the topic, "Are we going with fun songs or stupid songs?"

"I know what I'm looking for," Max said with a grin as he grabbed another copy of the song list.

"The lamest song you can find?" Santana asked, earning an enthusiastic nod from Max.

Dani couldn't help the smile that crossed her face at how well Santana fit in with her friends. She knew that Santana didn't necessarily make friends easily; fortunately, Dani's bandmates were sarcastic and laid-back, so they were never bothered by Santana, even when she was being blunt in what many would consider an off-putting way.

"Ooh found my song!" Max cheered happily as he got up from his seat to go over to the emcee to enter his name.

"Wait for me," Santana said as she got up as well.

"You barely looked at the list," Dani said in surprise, wondering how Santana could already know what she wanted to sing when the list was entirely too long.

"Don't need to," Santana replied with a smile as she and Max made their way through the crowd.

"You enjoying your birthday, El?" Dani asked her friend who was swaying in his seat to the trio of drunk girls on stage singing 'Jumpin Jumpin' by Destiny's Child.

"Best birthday ever!" He enthused with a lopsided grin, "I'm so glad you could all come," he quickly turned from excited to sincere as he wrapped an arm around Toby and reached across the table towards Dani, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"We wouldn't miss it!" Toby replied enthusiastically, nearly as tipsy as Elliott.

"Yeah, it's been cool. Especially your rendition of Flagpole Sitta earlier, I love that song." Pete said as he tipped his beer towards Elliott.

"Thanks!" Elliott replied with a grin before turning his attention towards Dani, "So, what will you be impressing us with tonight?"

Dani chuckled and shrugged, "I haven't decided yet."

"You should sing something for your lady friend," Pete encouraged, "We all know how much she likes when you sing for her."

Dani smirked, "Maybe I will," she replied with a shrug, happy to at least have a suggestion to help guide her search through the song list, "Oh my god, I can't believe they have B*Witched."

"The 60's show about the witch who wiggles her nose?" Elliott asked with a frown.

"No, the Irish girl group from the 90's," Dani explained with a chuckle, getting blank stares from the guys at the table, "Seriously, you've never heard of B*Witched?"

"Oh my god, I loved them!" One of Elliott's friends from the other table jumped in with an excited smile, "That one song was so catchy!"

"Totally!" Another girl from the table added with a grin, "If you do one of their songs, I'll totally help with back up!"

"It's good to know some of your friends have good taste in music," Dani told Elliott with a smirk. Truthfully, she wasn't all that surprised the guys hadn't known the band, but it was still fun to tease them.

"You all better get ready for an epic back-to-back show," Max warned as he and Santana arrived back at the table, "Santana and I picked amazing songs."

"I think you're using the word 'amazing' a little loosely in reference to your choice," Santana replied with a grin as she took a sip of her drink.

"What did you pick?" Dani asked, not really asking either Santana or Max in particular.

"It's no fun telling you! It'll be a surprise." Max insisted as he finished his beer. "I need another drink."

"Another round for the table?" Santana asked Max, using the pleading pout that was always incredibly effective on Dani.

"Okay, fine. But I'm only doing it for you." Max said as he pointed at Santana before disappearing once more into the crowd.

"You have them all wrapped around your finger, you know that, right?" Dani whispered to Santana, highly amused by how her bandmates acted around the sexy Latina.

"It's a gift," Santana said with a shrug as she finished her own drink and put the empty glass aside. "But my fingers are more interested in someone else," she added as she ran her hand up Dani's thigh.

"You're really trying to torture me tonight, aren't you?" Dani groaned as she glanced at the smirking woman beside her.

"Come on, you can't say 'finger' and not expect me to use that somehow."

"Wait, what's going on?" Elliott asked, tuning back into the conversation with a confused expression.

"I don't know, I think they're talking about fingering," Pete said with a shrug, having missed most of what was going on as well.

"That is not," Dani started, turning to face Pete who was on the other side of her, but quickly realizing that had kind of been what they were talking about, "Don't you have other, more interesting things to do than listen to what we're talking about?"

"Nope," Pete said with a smirk, causing Dani to roll her eyes.

"You can go help Max with the drinks."

"Fine, but only because your girl helped to score the whole table free drinks, so I'll do it for her, not you," Pete replied as he stood up and followed in the direction Max had gone.

"Dani, pick a song!" Elliott whined as he looked over at his friend, "You are putting entirely too much thought into this!"

"Okay, okay!" Dani said with a chuckle as she looked down at the list before choosing one and standing up, "I'll be right back," she told Santana, who pulled her in for a kiss.

"Hate to see you go, but love to watch you walk away," Santana purred against her lips before slapping her ass as Dani wandered off to find the emcee. Dani could tell that was the alcohol talking, but made sure to give her hips a little extra sway as she left the table, sending Santana a wink over her shoulder.

After putting her name and song on the list, which took longer than expected given the crowd of people she'd had to get through to even reach the emcee, Dani made her way back to her friends. As she approached the table, the emcee announced that Max was up next, causing the drummer to spring up from his seat and make his way over to the stage.

"Well, this should be something," Dani said with a smile as she took her seat, Santana's hand automatically coming up to rest on her thigh.

"Oh, you have no idea," Santana said with a grin, clearly happy to be the only one who knew what was coming as the table eagerly waited for Max's song to begin.

The table broke out in a chorus of groans as soon as Max launched into LFO's 'Summer Girls', which caused some startled looks from nearby tables at their exasperated response.

"I can't believe he's torturing us with this," Toby muttered, dropping his head in his hands.

"It's so bad, it's good!" A very tipsy Elliott protested as he began to dance along to the upbeat song.

Dani laughed and looked over at Santana who was joining in with Elliott and lip-syncing to the lyrics, "You would know all the words."

"Oh, I know you do too," Santana shot back, poking Dani's side until the laughing blonde joined in for the chorus.

Max began singing to his table during the bridge, pointing directly at Dani at the lyric 'I'll steal your honey like I stole your bike', causing Dani's eyebrows to raise while the table broke out in laughter. Santana began to dance along even more, encouraging Max to sing the last chorus to her, which Dani found quite amusing.

In a way, it made her proud that her bandmates felt comfortable around Santana and seemed to like her - and also clearly thought Dani had done very well for herself because Santana was gorgeous. However, Dani knew that Santana wasn't really hers, no matter how much her bandmates joked about it.

As soon as Max wrapped up his song, the emcee announced that Santana was up next. Dani watched as Santana made her way up to the stage, curious as to which song she had chosen. The table broke out into laughter and clapped excitedly as she sang the opening lines of 'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks.

"This is totally her theme song!" Elliott laughed as the others chuckled in agreement. Dani grinned as she watched Santana perform on stage. It was obvious that she was beautiful, but Dani thought she went to an entirely new level of gorgeous whenever she sang. She was always captivated when Santana performed, no matter how many times she had watched her.

Dani was only taken out of her trance when Max and Pete decided to shout the lyric 'I'm a goddess on my knees' along with Santana. Dani rolled her eyes at the childish behavior, but chuckled anyway when she saw the woman on stage smirking as she finished the song.

"Thanks for the help," Santana said to the guys as she sat down at the table.

"No problem, we just thought that line needed the emphasis. It's so easy to miss it," Max explained with a grin as the others chuckled.

"Is it true though, Dani? Is Santana a goddess on her knees?" Pete asked with a playful wink.

Dani knew that her bandmates were definitely feeling the alcohol; normally they didn't tease her and Santana nearly as much. But she didn't want to bring down the mood because having fun with her band and Santana at her best friend's birthday was something she was really enjoying.

"The absolute best," Dani replied, earning surprised looks at her candor and a proud smirk from Santana, "And you'll never get to experience it, so keep dreaming."

The table broke into laughs at Pete's stunned expression before he too joined in the laughter.

"By the way," Dani began, turning her attention to Max, "What was it you were singing about trying to steal my honey?"

Max threw up his hands in defense, "Just singing the lyrics, don't fight me. You know I wouldn't win." The table laughed again as Dani winked at Max, letting him know she thought it was funny.

"I didn't know we were allowed to sing to Santana, this definitely changes my song choice." Pete said as he flipped through the list.

"Mine too," Toby added with a buzzed smile.

"No." Dani said sternly as she glared at the guitarist and bassist, "Don't be like Max."

"Too late," Pete jumped up and headed towards the emcee with Toby following him.

"Sorry Dani, date a hottie and you have to expect that we're gonna be smitten," Max replied with a shrug.

"We're not dating," Dani said as she took a sip of her drink.

"Don't you get tired of saying that?" Santana teased as she smirked at the quickness of Dani's response.

Dani raised an eyebrow at the other woman, trying to figure out the meaning behind Santana's tipsy words.

Elliott eagerly jumped into the conversation, "I know I'm tired of it," he said as he glanced between the two women before fixing Santana in his blurred gaze, "It'd be so nice to not have the qualifiers anymore."

Dani sent Elliott a look to back off, hoping it would remind him that the situation was complicated and that she and Santana were okay with how things were.

Santana merely hummed in response as she buried her face in Dani's neck and started kissing along the spots she knew were sensitive.

Elliott raised an eyebrow back at Dani before shrugging and taking a sip of his drink. Not long after Toby and Pete returned, the emcee called Dani up to the stage.

The blonde eagerly hopped up before motioning to Elliott's two friends at the other table, "Come on, I need my back-up!" She noticed Santana was looking at Elliott's two tipsy friends in surprise, having missed Dani's earlier conversation with them. She watched as the surprise began to shift towards something similar to jealousy and pulled Santana in for a quick peck, "This one's for you," she said with a playful wink before heading towards the stage.

The trio of girls took the stage with Dani doing the lead vocals for 'C'est la Vie' by B*Witched and the other girls doing back up. They had a lot of fun with the song, with Dani casting flirtatious glances over at Santana during the sexual references even the ones clearly referencing a guy or male anatomy. She had wanted to stay clear of romantic or sentimental songs, so this was the perfect choice of being subtly sexual and incredibly fun. The women singing back up didn't have the best voices, but one pulled out a surprisingly good Irish river dance routine during the bridge, which thoroughly amused both the audience and Dani.

When the song ended, she made her way back to the table to be met with a hungry kiss from Santana, "I'll definitely 'show you mine if you show me yours'," Santana paraphrased the lyrics as she grabbed the blonde's ass.

Dani chuckled at that, "Later," she promised with a wink as she took her seat at the table.

* * *

"I can't believe Dani's here!" Rachel exclaimed as she and Kurt watched the familiar blonde leave the stage and make her way someplace across the packed room.

"I suppose it's not all that surprising, she does like music," Kurt said as he sipped his drink and scanned the crowd, "Although out of all the places in the city, I didn't expect to see her at a 90's karaoke night."

"Right? What are the chances," Rachel shook her head as she tried to figure out where Dani had gone, but quickly gave up as the place was way too crowded. "It looked like she was singing to someone, but I couldn't see who."

"Maybe she's here with a new girlfriend," Kurt suggested as he also tried to get another glimpse of Dani.

"Do you think?" Rachel asked as she looked at her friend, "I wish we'd gotten here earlier, maybe it would have been less crowded and we could have seen who she was with."

"It's not really our business…" Kurt pointed out, although Rachel could tell from his tone that he was every bit as interested as she was.

"But still, if she does have a girlfriend, we basically have an obligation to tell Santana…and you know the first thing Santana will ask us is what this new girl looks like."

"Should we tell her though?" He asked and held up a hand to stop Rachel's protest, "Hear me out, she's been really happy these last few weeks. Well months really, but especially in the last month or two. She has her new job and seems to really like it, I mean she's even getting along with her co-workers, which is shocking."

Rachel nodded at that; Santana went out for drinks with people from work most evenings after her shift at the studio. She and Kurt had both been shocked that Santana hadn't managed to piss off her co-workers with her special brand of bluntness. It was true she had seemed especially happy the past several weeks, which could be improving her mood at work and making her easier to get along with.

"So is it worth it to tell her something that might upset her?" Kurt continued and shrugged as if to answer his own question.

"I suppose you're right…but we should still keep an eye out, just so we know who this new girl is."

"If there even is a new girl," Kurt pointed out.

"Right," Rachel agreed as she continued trying to see through the crowd.

"Speaking of Santana," Kurt muttered as the next person up on the karaoke stage began singing 'Smooth'.

"Oh, I love this song." Rachel said with a grin as she turned to watch the guy performing, "He looks sort of familiar…"

Kurt studied the man on stage, "He's also looking over where Dani was…maybe they're together."

"Kurt, Dani's a lesbian," Rachel pointed out.

"I meant maybe they're here together," Kurt clarified with a dramatic roll of his eyes. He watched the man on stage continue to serenade someone they couldn't see. "I wish we had a better view."

"Well, let's focus on selecting our songs and we can check it out when we put in our requests," Rachel suggested, to which Kurt nodded.

* * *

"Bravo," Dani muttered drily as she slow clapped Pete's return to the table. "You think you're so clever, don't you?"

"Oh come on, don't be mad because you didn't have the amazing idea to serenade your woman with Santana's classic hit."

A small smile formed on Dani's face, "You're right, it was actually pretty brilliant."

"If I was into guys, that would have totally worked for me," Santana confirmed, "I did get a little hot."

Dani gasped in mock offense as Pete raised his fist triumphantly.

"Sorry babe," Santana said as she pressed a kiss to Dani's cheek.

Dani and Elliott exchanged a look, neither of them missing that it was the first time Santana had used a pet name in public. They occasionally let pet names slip in the bedroom in the heat of passion, but never when they were around others.

Santana didn't seem to notice as she curled into Dani's side.

"I'm up!" Toby announced as he headed up on stage.

"Not another serenade," Dani groaned as she glanced over at Max, "You started this!"

Max shrugged, "I don't regret it, this has been amazing."

"Agreed," Santana said with a grin, which turned into laughter as Dani tickled her side.

"Oh wait, I forgot we're needed." Pete announced as he grabbed Max and dragged him on stage.

"What's this about?" Dani asked as she turned a wary eye towards the stage. She didn't have to wonder for long as Pete launched into the opening dialogue of 'Baby Got Back' with Max playing the silent role of Becky, a judgmental look on his face as Pete voiced the lines using his best valley girl accent.

Dani couldn't help but laugh, but it turned into a groan as Toby began rapping, "He's got absolutely no skills!"

"Come on, you know he can't sing. Rapping was his best option," Santana pointed out as she got up to dance along to the song.

"You're just happy because he's singing about your ass."

Santana winked at Dani before tugging her hand to get her to stand up, "Why don't you grind up on this ass, then?"

Dani chuckled at that and didn't deny the gorgeous woman as she danced behind Santana while Toby rapped about butts.

Max and Pete joined them back at the table, cheering on Santana and Dani who were attracting some attention and cheers from nearby patrons who were enjoying their dancing.

Toby returned to the table after finishing the song and was pulled into a hug by a tipsy Santana, "Thank you for giving my butt the attention it deserves,"

"Oh, it gets plenty of attention," Dani commented as she smacked Santana's ass, "You know, for Elliott's birthday, you sure are getting a lot of love tonight."

Santana gasped and Dani could see the look of guilt flash over Santana's features, "Elliott, I'm buying you a birthday drink. Go pick out a song and we'll duet."

"Deal!" A drunk and clearly not upset Elliott cheered as he grabbed the song list. "Ugh, Dani these are blurry, read them to me."

Dani chuckled as she snatched the list and began reading off any songs she knew he could perform even in his state.

"I'll grab you another drink," Santana told Dani as she squeezed her shoulder.

"More drinks! I'm coming too!" Max announced, drumming his hands excitedly on the table before standing up.

"I'll help carry before Dani scolds me again," Pete said as he began to follow Santana, Toby quickly joining him.

"Hands to yourselves!" Dani warned her bandmates as they followed Santana like eager puppies.

"They like her a lot," Elliott observed as he glanced over at Dani.

Dani nodded at that, "They like the way she looks," she joked as she continued to scan the song list.

"It's more than that though. They like her for you. And as much as this may shock you, I do too."

Dani was surprised to hear Elliott say that in his drunken state. She felt a blush creep across her face as she shrugged, "You know it's complicated."

"I really hope it becomes uncomplicated sometime soon…in a way that means you're happy."

Dani smiled, "Enough about this. How are you enjoying your 23rd birthday?"

"It's amazing!" Elliott cheered, "Good drinks, great friends, and amazing music!"

Dani laughed at his infectious enthusiasm, "Have you decided on your next song?"

"Yep!" Elliott announced as he stood up and dragged Dani with him to input his song selection.

* * *

Kurt let out a dramatic gasp, causing Rachel's ears to immediately perk up, "What? What is it?"

"Isn't that Santana at the bar?"

Rachel whipped her head around so fast, she nearly got whiplash. She scanned the bar before noticing Santana placing a drink order at the counter. "Oh my god, it is! What is she doing here?"

"Well, she said she was going out for drinks with people from work, but what are the chances she ended up here?"

"I can't believe it, this is movie level drama," Rachel announced, her voice betraying her excitement over the situation they had found themselves in. "When did she get here?"

"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention," Kurt replied, "But if she's just getting a drink now, she must have only arrived recently."

"So she didn't see Dani perform."

"I'm assuming she wouldn't still be here otherwise," Kurt said as he watched his friend talking with a blond guy while some other people around her were obscured from view by the crowd at the bar.

Rachel nodded as she turned to watch Santana, "What do we do? Do we go and warn her that Dani is here?"

Kurt shrugged at that, "For all we know, Dani left during that painful rendition of 'Baby Got Back'."

"But if she is here, it would be rude not to tell Santana, right? We shouldn't just let them run into each other…"

"Do you think," Kurt trailed off as he seemed to be considering something, "That they're here together?"

Rachel scoffed at the idea, "Kurt, Santana would have told us if she was on speaking terms with her ex again."

Kurt nodded, "You're right. I mean, I'm sure she wouldn't have told us around Brittany, but she would have definitely mentioned it. Last time we saw her and Dani in the same room, she was pissed at us for going to watch Dani's band. No way she would have gone from that to befriending her without telling us."

Rachel nodded in agreement, "Besides, Santana doesn't strike me as the type to remain friends with an ex."

"Besides Brittany," Kurt pointed out.

"Yes, but that's different because they got back together."

"True," Kurt nodded, "Okay, you have a point. But what should we do? Do we tell Santana?"

Rachel glanced back over her shoulder, "I don't even see her anymore." She sighed as she turned her attention back to Kurt. "We just need to pick our songs so we can walk around this place and keep an eye on Santana and Dani. Maybe one of them will see us and we can casually bring up seeing the other without it seeming like we're stalking them."

"It's just so hard to pick," Kurt sighed as he gestured towards the song list, "This is taking us way too long."

"We'll find the perfect songs," Rachel promised as she grabbed the song list.

The duo continued to pour over their options, getting increasingly antsy at the thought of missing out on drama unfolding in a place they couldn't see.

"I'll do 'Baby One More Time', I think I still remember some of the choreography from that bizarre anesthesia induced dream at the dentist, and I think you should go with 'Linger' by the Cranberries, you'll do an amazing job."

"Okay," Kurt said with a nod, confirming their final song choice. "Let's go put in our requests."

Just as the two friends were getting ready to leave their table, the emcee welcomed Elliott to the stage.

Rachel and Kurt exchanged a look before quickly hurrying to get a closer look and watched as their suspicions were confirmed and their former band mate took the stage. "There's no way Santana won't notice Dani now," Kurt hissed to Rachel, sure that Elliott was there with Dani, which meant that the blonde was still around somewhere.

"A special friend promised me a duet because it's my birthday," an obviously inebriated Elliott announced into the microphone, "And as some of you may have noticed, she's been serenaded several times tonight." He paused as the audience chuckled, "So consider this her response to those guys." He waved in the direction of where he had come from.

Kurt and Rachel eagerly looked around, assuming Dani was the special friend he was referring to. "Where is Santana?" Rachel whispered, trying desperately to see where their roommate had ended up in the crowd.

Kurt gasped and Rachel directed her attention to the stage, her jaw dropping as Santana joined Elliott on stage, giving the tipsy man a hug.

"However," Elliott slurred, "This next song requires a trio, so we need our T-Boz."

"Wait, am I Chilli or Left-Eye?" Santana asked Elliott.

"I'm obviously Left-Eye," Elliott gasped in offense, "Don't argue with me, Chilli."

Santana laughed, clearly not sober herself as she glanced in the same direction as Elliott, "T-Boz, get your sexy ass over here. Not you Pete, sit down."

Kurt and Rachel gripped each other's hands tightly as they saw Dani emerge from the crowd and take the stage.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kurt asked an equally confused Rachel as they stared at the stage. The trio launched into 'No Scrubs', eliciting a chuckle from the audience as Elliott had described the song selection as a response to Santana's serenades.

"When did they all become friends again?" Rachel asked as she watched the three move around the stage, attempting to recreate dance moves they remembered from the music video. It was clear the three were very comfortable around each other and this wasn't the result of having run into each other earlier in the evening.

"How would I know? I'm just as confused as you are," Kurt hissed back.

As Santana transitioned into the bridge, Elliott began moving closer to her and pointed at her while he mouthed along with the lyric 'if you have a shorty, but you don't show love', prompting Santana to give him the finger as she continued singing. Dani meanwhile was observing the interaction and laughing before joining the other two for the chorus.

Kurt and Rachel watched in awe as Elliott launched into Left Eye's rap, with near perfect accuracy, which was possibly due to his level of intoxication as opposed to in spite of it. However, their attention was quickly focused elsewhere as Santana began grinding on Dani while Elliott sang his verse. They watched as Dani placed one hand on Santana's hip to guide her movements, while her other hand ran down Santana's curves, eliciting a cheer from several members of the audience.

"Seriously, what is going on here?" Kurt asked, his whisper startlingly high pitched as he stared at the stage.

"Are they…together?" Rachel squeaked, observing the clear chemistry from the two women who only broke away to join Elliott for the final chorus. When they finished, they all gave a drunken bow before making their way back towards their table.

"Do we…do we go over there?" Kurt asked, trying to make sense of everything he had just seen.

"I don't know," Rachel replied with wide eyes, "I feel like we have to say something…but what is even happening between them? Are they friends or…"

"Or something more," Kurt finished, "It didn't look like just friends."

"But it's Santana, she could grind like that with a wall and make it look hot. If we go over there and jump to the wrong conclusions, she'll be furious."

Kurt nodded, knowing Santana's rage was not something to mess with. "Do we try to get a better look to figure out what's going on?"

"Good idea," Rachel said with an approving nod. The two made their way to a corner of the room where they could keep an eye on Santana and Dani, while maintaining enough distance to not be seen. Unfortunately, this meant they couldn't hear what was being said at the table, but Rachel was doing her best to read their lips.

"What's going on? Kurt asked, bobbing his head around to see if Dani and Santana were doing anything suspicious; however, the two women were simply sitting next to each other and talking to the others at their table.

"I'm not sure," Rachel said, giving up on trying to decipher what Dani was saying and turning her attention to Elliott who seemed to be chanting something. After a moment, she gasped and turned towards Kurt, "They're playing truth or dare!"

* * *

A/N: Well there's part one of Elliott's birthday! Please review and let me know what you think.

Also, here's a list of the songs that were mentioned in this chapter. In case you couldn't tell, I was really on a Pandora 90's pop kick at the time of writing this.

Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta

Destiny's Child - Jumpin' Jumpin'

LFO - Summer Girls

Meredith Brooks - Bitch

B*Witched - C'est la Vie

Santana ft. Rob Thomas - Smooth

Sir Mix A Lot - Baby Got Back

TLC - No Scrubs


	15. Chapter 15

"No way," Dani protested with a firm shake of her head, "I learned my lesson the last time we played truth or dare."

"What'd you make her do?" Santana asked with a smirk, knowing it must have been bad for the typically easy-going Dani to be this against playing.

"We didn't make her do anything," Pete protested, "You think Dani would have ever picked dare around us?"

Santana raised an eyebrow, even more intrigued, "What did you ask her?"

Dani groaned as the guys at the table began snickering, "Something I hoped they were too drunk to remember asking."

"Max had the brilliant idea to ask Dani about the naughtiest thing she's ever done," Toby informed Santana.

"Oh really? And what was that?" Santana asked, leaning closer to the guys, hoping to get the details.

Dani rolled her eyes, "It doesn't matter."

"Come on, Dani. I don't know why you're so embarrassed. It's a fucking cool story," Pete protested.

"It's not the story I'm embarrassed about," Dani muttered as she took a sip of her drink.

"Drunk Dani gets very, very chatty," Max added with a grin, "She went into quite a bit of detail."

"I don't want to be the only one out of the loop," Santana said as she used her best pout on the guys at the table, "I don't need as detailed an explanation as Dani gave, but I want to know about the naughtiest thing Dani's ever done."

"Well, apparently," Pete started, blatantly ignoring the glare Dani was giving him, "Dani used to date this chick who was an understudy in a Broadway show. Only, the girl she was the understudy for was her roommate and they were in this huge fight. Anyway, her girlfriend wanted to get back at her roommate so they broke into the theater at night and had hot and dirty sex in her dressing room…and she and Dani really went at it."

Dani let out another groan as she dropped her head onto the table, embarrassed at having gone into so much detail when she'd told the story. She'd been pretty drunk, but she recalled telling her bandmates what positions she and Santana had been in and which surfaces in Rachel's dressing room they'd defiled. She was grateful that she hadn't used her ex's name at the time of telling the story, but knew that Santana would obviously recognize that story. "Is that so?" Santana asked and Dani could practically hear the smirk in her voice. She lifted her head to give Santana an unamused look. "That sounds really, really hot."

Dani shrugged, "It was alright, I guess." She fought off her own smirk at the scowl that quickly crossed over Santana's face before she seemed to realize Dani was purposely downplaying it to tease her.

"And Dani telling the story was pretty hot too," Max added, "Which is why we should totally play truth or dare again."

"Yes! Truth or Dare!" Elliott enthused again, having forgotten he wanted to play the game after being temporarily distracted by saying goodbye to his other friends. "We have to play, it's my birthday."

Dani gave a reluctant nod, not wanting to be the one to bring down the mood at Elliott's birthday celebration, "You okay with this?" She asked Santana who smirked at her.

"Please, Santana Lopez does not back down from a game of truth or dare."

Dani chuckled at that and nodded, "Okay, Birthday Boy, you first. Truth or Dare?"

Elliott clapped his hands excitedly, "Dare!"

"I dare you to get one of the bartenders to give you a free birthday shot," she held up a hand when the others at the table started to protest at the simplicity of the dare, "But you can only speak in baby talk."

Elliott gasped as the others at the table burst into laughter, "You doubt my skills, Harper!" He pointed a finger at Dani as he stood up before making his way towards the bar.

"Max, go make sure he does it and please record it."

Max saluted Dani to acknowledge her request before hopping out of his seat to follow Elliott into the crowd.

"That was a good one, very clever" Santana complimented as she ran a hand through Dani's hair.

"Don't act so surprised," Dani replied with a grin, holding Santana's playful gaze until they were distracted by Pete standing up from the table.

"I have to pee, no one do anything fun without me!"

The two women chuckled as he walked off and turned to watch the group of men on stage singing 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back)'. Not long after Pete returned, Elliott and Max joined the others back at the table.

Max was nearly doubled over in laughter while Elliott looked disturbed by something, "I think the female bartender has a bit of a baby fetish," Max explained to the table. "It was awesome."

Dani chuckled as she returned her attention to the table, "Okay El, your turn to choose someone."

He glanced around the table, taking his time before settling his gaze on Max, "Since you so graciously accompanied me to the bar to film my humiliation, you're up. Truth or Dare?"

Max stroked his chin as he contemplated the question, "Dare."

"I dare you to get a number from that table of girls using only terrible pick up lines."

Max eagerly jumped up from the table and went over to the group of girls Elliott had indicated. The rest of the table turned to watch him.

"Do you believe in love at first sight or should I pass by again?" Max asked as he grinned at the trio of girls seated at the table. The girls chuckled and seemed both surprised and mildly amused by the line. "By the way, I lost my number, can I have yours?

"I can't believe he used that on all of them at once!" Dani observed with a laugh, "He didn't even single one out."

"Better odds," Santana said with a shrug, "It seems to have worked."

"No way," Dani whipped her head back around to see that one of the girls was writing something down on a piece of paper before handing it to Max, who turned and walked back to the table.

"You know that's a fake number," Toby commented as the grinning Max sat back down.

"Oh most definitely, but that was so fun!"

The table laughed at his enthusiasm, knowing that it was next to impossible for the drummer to be embarrassed.

"Alright Toby, truth or dare?"

"Truth," The bassist replied, not trusting Max to give him a dare.

Max frowned as he thought,"Okay, uh…rank everyone at this table in the order you would do them."

Dani rolled her eyes at that, "You suck at asking questions."

Max shrugged in reply, "You know my specialty is dares."

Toby was far too buzzed to even be embarrassed as he answered in one long, rambling sentence, "Santana, Dani, Elliott, Max, Pete."

"Wait, why am I last?" Pete asked, clearly offended. "And why is Elliott before me?"

"He's gay, he'd enjoy it more than you," Toby replied with a shrug.

"That's a big assumption," Elliott shot back, but grinned at Toby's shocked expression.

"Fine, but why Max over me?"

"You seem really upset over this," Dani pointed out with a grin, "Do you have a crush on Toby?"

"Ha ha," Pete replied before glancing over at Toby, "Pick the next victim."

"Oh, I already did," Toby said with a grin directed at Pete, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Shit, I suck at dares," Toby muttered.

"That's why I picked it," Pete replied with a smirk.

"I dare you to steal something from the bar."

Pete nodded and stood up, the others watched as he walked over the bar. He glanced around for a moment as if deciding what to do before grabbing a clean martini glass from behind the counter and filling it with maraschino cherries. One of the bartenders noticed Pete, but seemed too mesmerized by the man's confidence to intervene. Pete walked back to the table with a smug grin before setting the glass on the table.

"How about a demonstration of your skills?" Pete asked as he dangled a cherry in front of Dani's face.

The blonde rolled her eyes but took the cherry and ate the fruit before popping the stem into her mouth. Ten seconds later she pulled out the knotted stem to cheers from the table.

"Not that I'm surprised, but how did I not know you could do that?" Santana asked in awe.

Dani shrugged, "Pete only knows because we were talking about Twin Peaks and I told him how I learned to do that after watching Audrey Horne do it on the show."

"Yeah, and you said watching that scene made you realize you had a massive crush on Sherilyn Fenn."

"Like I'm embarrassed to admit that," Dani said with a shrug.

Pete chuckled before fixing his gaze on Santana, "Truth or dare?"

"Woah, wait," Dani protested, "It's my turn, you just gave me a dare." She gestured to the knotted stem on the table.

"No," Pete said with a slow shake of his head, "I just asked you to do it. If you recall, I never asked you truth or dare."

Dani narrowed her eyes at her friend as she realized he was absolutely right.

"So, Santana," he repeated and returned his attention to the woman beside the irritated blonde, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," Santana replied easily.

"That was a mistake," Dani commented with a shake of her head.

"Hold on now," Pete said with a mock offended expression, "I give very good dares. And because you were such a trooper with the cherry stem, I'll make sure it's extra nice for you too." He paused for dramatic effect, "I dare you to give Dani a lap dance to the next song."

Dani raised her eyebrows in surprise, "I'm honestly shocked you didn't request that for yourself."

"That would make me gross," Pete protested, "At least this is something I can still enjoy without being a creep."

"Oh, you're still a creep," Dani confirmed with a smile, "But thanks for this."

"Ooh it's a guy and girl taking the stage, a duet perhaps?" Elliott observed as the table eagerly awaited to see what the next song would be.

"I bet it's going to be a sex song like 'Nobody' by Keith Sweat," Toby added.

"Oh god," Dani muttered, suddenly nervous that a table of her friends as well as the strangers sitting nearby were going to watch her get a lap dance from Santana.

The table of friends went silent as they waited for the song to start and erupted into enthusiastic laughter and cheers as the duo onstage began to sing 'Barbie Girl'.

"Oh, this will be good," Dani said with a chuckle as Santana took her place on Dani's lap, her back to Dani's front as she pushed her ass against the blonde. The guys clapped along to the beat of the song as Santana danced, grinding down onto Dani's lap. As the second verse began, Santana got up and turned to face Dani, getting down on her knees and sliding her hands slowly up the blonde's thighs at the line 'I can beg on my knees'.

Dani sucked in a breath, she had forgotten how dirty the lyrics to the song actually were, but she had a feeling Santana clearly hadn't. She watched as the other woman got up and straddled Dani's lap, facing her, moving her hips sensually at the line 'let us do it again'.

Santana began to lip sync to the lyrics as she continued to grind down onto Dani's lap, running her hands down her own curves at the line 'you can touch, you can play' and leaned in to whisper the next line to Dani, "You can say I'm always yours."

Dani felt her level of arousal spike, although she wasn't sure if it was the grinding or the way Santana had purred those words into her ear. Santana continued to move against Dani, running her hands along her own body and through her own hair in a way that she knew would drive the blonde crazy.

Dani wasn't sure how Santana managed to make a lap dance to 'Barbie Girl' so seductive, but she was relieved for the sake of her own sanity when the song ended. The applause after the performance seemed just as much directed at Santana as the duo who had been singing, at least from the people seated close enough to have observed Santana's lap dance skills.

Santana simply smirked at the blonde, no doubt able to tell the effect her dance had on Dani who was gazing at Santana hungrily.

"I bow down to you," Max laughed as he applauded Santana, "Only a true goddess can move sensually to that song."

"Goddess, huh? I like that," Santana replied as she winked at Max.

"I second that," Dani replied with a dazed smirk, to which Pete quickly chimed in with 'third' and Toby with 'fourth', leaving a drunk and confused Elliott to glance around the table, having missed what was going on.

"Your turn, truth or dare?" Santana asked as she ran her fingers through Dani's hair.

Dani swallowed, having trouble focusing let alone figuring out whether she'd be safer with a truth or a dare from Santana, "Dare."

Santana only gave it a moment's thought before giving Dani her dare, "Do a body shot off of me."

The guys at the table groaned, "That's not fair! Dares are supposed to be embarrassing or awkward, not awesome!" Max protested.

"Seriously, is it Elliott's birthday or Dani's? Because she's sure been getting lucky."

"Well, not yet," Dani shot back at Toby, before smirking at him, "Go get me a tequila shot." The bassist grumbled for a moment before reluctantly following her orders and heading for the bar, "Don't forget the lime!" She called out after him.

"I didn't expect you to be so bad at giving dares," Pete said with a shake of his head to show his disapproval.

"I'm not," Santana replied, "The best kind of dare benefits the person giving it."

"But I especially like when dares benefit me," Dani added with a grin. She had to admit she had been surprised by the dare at first, but it had made sense when she realized that Santana was just as turned on as she was. The way Santana's hand tangled in her blonde hair, her nails scraping along the back of her neck and sending shivers down her spine clued her in to Santana's growing arousal and impatience with still being in public.

Toby soon returned with the shot glass, a lime perched carefully on top of the full glass. Dani took the shot glass from him as Santana leaned back and reached over to grab the salt shaker from the table.

"I'm not hating this view," Pete commented as he took the opportunity to check out Santana's cleavage as she reached over him to grab the shaker before settling back in Dani's lap, still facing the blonde.

"Keep it in your pants, Pete," Dani chided before turning her attention back to Santana who was pulling her shirt lower, making her cleavage more prominent.

Santana smirked at Pete, clearly appreciating the compliment. She grabbed the lime from the shot glass in Dani's hand and ran it along her clavicle before sprinkling salt along the damp patch of skin. She took the shot glass from Dani and tucked it securely in her cleavage before smirking at Dani who was eyeing her hungrily, "Whenever you're ready."

Dani watched as Santana placed the lime in her mouth and leaned in to slowly lick the salt away, letting her tongue sweep along Santana's collarbone. She was in no hurry as she trailed lingering kisses down to the tempting cleavage in front of her. Once she reached her destination, her lips wrapped around the glass and she carefully removed it before tilting her head back and letting the tequila burn it's way down her throat. She reached up to retrieve the glass from between her lips and set it on the table as she leaned in and took the lime from Santana's lips, biting into the citrus sliver. After discarding the lime into the empty glass, she leaned in and captured Santana's lips in a heated kiss.

Dani was vaguely aware that the guys at the table were cheering on the kiss, but the only thing Dani could focus on was how turned on she was. She and Santana had been teasing each other all night, but it had certainly escalated with the lap dance followed by the body shot and Dani knew they were both more than ready for the night to be over so they could go back to her apartment.

A bright flash distracted Dani enough to pull her away from Santana's soft lips as she glanced around the table, wondering who had the audacity to take a picture. "Elliott!" She gasped in surprise, not having suspected that he was the one who snapped a picture of her and Santana out of all the guys at the table.

Her bandmates laughed at her shock as Elliott gave a shrug and put his phone away before Dani could grab it, "It's my birthday!" He used his go-to excuse of the day and Dani pulled her hand back, but continued to glare.

"I just had a great karaoke idea!" Max exclaimed, leaning over to whisper to Pete and then Toby before the trio quickly disappeared to put in their request.

"I don't like the looks of that," Dani said as she watched her near giddy band members cross the room.

"This is the best birthday ever!" Elliott repeated his earlier sentiment with a wide grin, "Thank you for coming out with me tonight."

"Thanks for inviting me," Santana said as she situated herself to sit more comfortably on Dani's lap so she could face Elliott, "Tonight has been a lot of fun."

"Yeah…I think especially for the two of you," Elliott said with a grin. "I'm so glad we've all been able to spend so much time with you. You fit in really well with Dani's friends."

Dani glared at Elliott, letting him know she knew exactly what he was trying to do. Although she could tell it was well intentioned and he just wanted Santana and Dani to be together, she didn't want to put pressure on Santana. And she especially didn't want his comments to upset her enough to cause her to leave because Dani was incredibly horny and was counting down the minutes until it would be acceptable for them to go back to her place.

Fortunately, someone new took the stage, cutting off anything else Elliott may have been about to add. Dani was excited when the next song started as it was something she recognized, but hadn't heard in ages. Her excitement quickly turned to dread when she heard the opening lyrics and remembered just exactly what Usher's 'You Make Me Wanna…" was about.

As Dani was frantically trying to decide whether to start talking loudly to distract Santana from the lyrics or to make a joke to relieve the tension of the situation, Santana began slowly grinding down into Dani's lap.

Dani's racing thoughts stilled as she focused on the feel of Santana moving along to the beat of the song. She held her breath, waiting for Santana to really hear the lyrics; she knew that Santana would not be rolling her hips into Dani the way she was if she realized what the song was about. However, Santana didn't slow her movements so Dani glanced over at Elliott to make sure she wasn't reading the situation incorrectly.

Elliott was watching them with a pleased smirk and Dani knew she wasn't the only one who was tuned into the lyrics.

The blonde remained frozen in her seat, patiently waiting for Santana to catch on to the lyrics. As the song neared the end of the first verse, Santana flipped her hair over her shoulder and held Dani's gaze as she continued to move against her.

Dani's breath caught in her throat as Santana leaned in and sang the chorus in her ear.

 _"You make me wanna leave the one I'm with_

 _Start a new relationship with you, this is what you do_

 _Think about a ring and all the things that come along with_

 _You make me, you make me"_

It was clear to Dani at that point that not only did Santana know exactly what the lyrics to the song were, but that she was very intentionally trying to convey their meaning to Dani.

Dani gripped Santana's thighs as the other woman pulled back after the chorus, continuing to roll her hips into Dani's lap. The blonde met Santana's gaze, silently begging her to confirm that she wasn't misreading the situation.

Santana held Dani's gaze, matching the intensity reflected in the blonde's eyes. The small, almost shy smile on Santana's lips convinced Dani that there was genuine emotion behind Santana's seductive teasing, even if alcohol was playing a role too. The pounding of her heart nearly drowned out the music as Dani felt lust and an emotion starting with 'L' that she didn't want to identify overpower her senses. She slipped a hand behind Santana's neck to pull the other woman into a bruising kiss filled with the emotions coursing through her.

Santana eagerly responded and took the initiative to deepen the kiss by slipping her tongue into Dani's mouth. Dani let out a moan at the welcome invasion and teased Santana's tongue with her own.

"Woah, I guess even lesbians get hot for Usher's music," Max commented with a laugh as the trio returned to the table.

"Have they come up for air since we left the table?" Pete asked Elliott as he settled back into his seat beside Dani, "Not gonna lie, I really do have the best seat in the house."

Dani was only cognizant enough of the chatter around her to find it annoying, so she reluctantly broke away from Santana, noticing the other woman seemed just as frustrated by the constant interruptions.

A smirk soon crossed Santana's face as she stood up and held out her hand for Dani. The blonde didn't think twice as she took the outstretched hand and allowed herself to be led in the direction of the bathrooms, ignoring the whistles and applause coming from their table.

Dani's thoughts and actions were fueled by a combination of alcohol and lust as she and Santana made their way down the line of single-person bathrooms until they reached the one farthest from the crowded main floor.

The two women slipped inside, Santana finding the light switch while Dani locked the door behind them. There was only a moment's hesitation before they resumed their heated kiss, a lust-fueled tangle of tongues as they fought for control over the kiss.

Dani was the first to break away and let her eyes hungrily roam over Santana's curves before pushing the other woman against the wall and attaching her mouth to her neck. She was rewarded by a loud moan as Santana's hips bucked, desperately seeking friction. Knowing that this was not the time to prolong the encounter with teasing, Dani reached down and pushed Santana's skirt up around her waist. She made a mental note to wear skirts and dresses more often as they really made having sex in public so much easier.

"Fuck, Dani" Santana drew out the other woman's name in a whine as she tangled her fingers in blonde locks and used her free hand to pull the other woman closer.

Dani chuckled at the desperation in Santana's voice as she pushed the soaked lace panties down Santana's thighs, letting them fall down around her ankles, "How badly do you want me, baby?"

Santana's eyes darkened even further with arousal at the lustful tone of Dani's voice as she used the pet name, "I need you so fucking much."

Dani's lips quirked into a smile as she leaned in to reward Santana for her comment with a passionate kiss. She ran her fingers through Santana's slick folds, not at all surprised by how wet the other woman was and knowing she was equally, if not more, turned on.

She didn't waste much time before sliding two fingers deep inside Santana, causing the other woman to moan into her mouth. Dani was glad that they were in a loud venue and didn't have to worry too much about keeping quiet. As she set a fast pace thrusting her fingers in and out of Santana, she noticed whoever was on stage was letting out a very aggressive version of 'You Oughta Know'.

The song was one that Dani had played more times that she was willing to admit when Santana broke up with her and a smirk formed on the blonde's lips as she thought about how the heartbroken and pissed off version of herself would never have expected to be fucking Santana in a bar bathroom a year later.

The angry lyrics fueled her desire to fuck Santana well and prove to the other woman that she belonged with her. She increased the pace of her thrusting fingers as she got down on her knees.

"Shit, that's so good," Santana moaned as Dani took a long lick along her slit. The blonde grinned before sucking her clit between her lips and teasing it with her tongue, causing Santana to buck her hips and grab a fistful of blonde hair.

Alanis's passionate lyrics spurred Dani on to eat Santana out with an intensity that caused the other woman's legs to quiver as she did her best to remain standing.

"Dani," Santana whimpered as she tightened her hold on her hair, "I'm so fucking close, please don't stop."

Dani struggled to maintain the fast and intense pace she'd set, not wanting to slow down and deny Santana her climax. She was rewarded with a long moan as Santana came, her back arching off the wall and pushing her further into Dani's mouth. The blonde kept her gaze locked on Santana's face; her expression one of pure satisfaction as Dani slowly worked her down from her high.

Dani wiped her mouth on her jacket sleeve before standing up to give Santana a gentle kiss. The kiss soon turned heated as Santana recovered her energy and used her renewed strength to switch positions, shoving Dani against the wall.

As caught up as Dani was in the kiss, she couldn't help but notice when a new song started. Although it was very fitting that 'Cherry Pie' was the next song to blast through the club, the song choice wasn't what grabbed Dani's attention.

"I think that's the guys singing," she commented as Santana moved her kisses down to Dani's neck. She definitely recognized Pete's voice taking the lead vocals, but could faintly pick out Toby and Max singing backup. She realized that this must have been the song Max had been so excited to request.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to go back out there to watch?" Santana asked as she pulled back to fix Dani with an unamused glare.

Dani felt a little guilty for getting distracted when Santana had been doing incredible things with her mouth on Dani's neck, "No fucking way," she replied with a resolute shake of her head, "I want you. Only you."

The reply seemed to satisfy Santana who returned her attention to giving Dani as much pleasure as the blonde had given her.

* * *

"Now can we agree it's not just a game of truth or dare?" Rachel challenged Kurt as they watched Santana lead Dani towards the bathrooms. She had been convinced that Santana was cheating on Brittany ever since they watched her give Dani a lap dance, regardless of whether it had been a dare or not. She had seen the lust on Santana's face and knew that wasn't caused by dancing to Aqua's hit song.

Kurt had been more hesitant, not wanting to jump to conclusions given Santana's temper. Rachel had agreed to hold back on making judgments at first. However, the lap dance had turned into a body shot, followed by hot and heavy kissing at the table. Still, Kurt had used the excuse of 'it could just be the game'. It was only when Santana began to make out once more with Dani during the Usher song about leaving a current relationship to start a new one that Kurt was finally rendered speechless.

He looked over at Rachel, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he nodded silently.

"Finally," she muttered as she crossed her arms, "I can't believe she would do that to Brittany!"

"Well, it is Santana," Kurt pointed out, "Hasn't she cheated in like every relationship she's been in?"

"But usually she was cheating with Brittany, not on her." Rachel protested, "What do we do?"

Kurt shrugged helplessly, "I don't know, we both know Santana isn't exactly the most reasonable person." Rachel gave a snort of agreement before Kurt continued, "We wouldn't even get five words into a conversation without her getting defensive and angry. She'd probably freak out about us telling Brittany and threaten to destroy us to keep us quiet."

Rachel nodded as she reflected on his words, "But we do have to tell Brittany, right?"

Kurt sighed, "She's our friend, and we can't let Santana keep hurting her like this," he agreed, "But, we both know Santana - she barely tolerates us most of the time. Not to mention she's manipulative and cut-throat…if we tell Brittany, Santana will probably convince her that we're lying and trying to sabotage her or something."

"And probably convince the rest of our friends to turn against us too," Rachel muttered, all too familiar with how devious Santana could be when provoked. Although she wanted to believe they'd all grown up since they graduated high school, she also knew that Santana cared about Brittany and wouldn't take kindly to Kurt and Rachel outing her cheating and threatening her relationship, "So, what do we do? Gather proof so that she can't deny it?"

"I suppose," Kurt replied, his brow furrowed as he was deep in thought, "At least to start, but we'll have to think of a better plan. I think it will ultimately have to involve getting Santana, Dani, and Brittany in a room together."

Rachel nodded at that idea, "This will take some serious planning," she agreed, "We can't let Santana keep hurting people. Not only Brittany, but she's probably lying to Dani as well."

Kurt considered that for a moment, "I'm not so sure, we saw how Santana was seducing Dani with that Usher song…I think Dani knows exactly what's going on."

"But why? I mean, why would she want to be with Santana knowing she's dating someone else?"

"Personally, I don't know why anyone would want to be with Santana," Kurt muttered, "Perhaps it's revenge? After all, Britt did convince Santana to leave Dani for her."

"I don't know…Dani doesn't seem like the revenge type. Plus, she has her band now and they're kind of successful; she could have her pick of women, why be Santana's side fling?"

"Well, it seems like she's gunning for the role of Santana's main squeeze again," Kurt said as he gestured towards the bathroom, "Lord knows why."

"We can get evidence!" Rachel exclaimed, startling Kurt with her sudden outburst, "We both know they didn't sneak back there for a pee break. Maybe we can record them and get audio of moans or noises or something," Rachel shuddered at the thought of the sounds they might hear, "Obviously we won't be able to film them in the act, but it might be something we can use."

Kurt contemplated the suggestion for a moment before nodding, "Okay, but we have to be careful. If Santana catches us, we're dead."

Rachel nodded in agreement before quickly standing up, practically buzzing with excitement at the thought of doing another stealthy mission to catch a cheater. "This is just like when Finn and I tried to catch Quinn cheating with Sam…we definitely should have gotten a little more evidence that time."

"Yeah, that was a mess," Kurt agreed as he followed Rachel towards the bathroom, keeping an eye on Elliott to make sure his friend didn't spot them, "But it all worked out, so all's well that ends well, right?"

Rachel placed a finger to her lips to indicate they needed to be quiet as they entered the hall of bathrooms. They looked at the six doors, four of which were closed and tried to figure out where to start. After listening to the sound of peeing from two of the bathrooms, they made their way to the third, skipping the two obviously empty bathrooms along the way.

"This person is drunk off their ass," Kurt muttered as he pressed his ear to the door, hearing the person occupying the bathroom singing along quite poorly to the song being performed on stage.

"One more," Rachel whispered as she nodded her head towards the final door. She hoped they were correct in their assumption and Dani and Santana hadn't just gone for a bathroom break after all. Or worse, maybe they left out a back exit and Rachel and Kurt were just listening to drunk people pee for no reason.

"Wait, act natural," Kurt instructed, leaning against a wall and studying his cuticles. Rachel glanced at him in confusion before seeing a girl stumble into the hallway before disappearing into the nearest open bathroom.

"We have to hurry," Rachel whispered, knowing they could be caught at any moment. She pulled out her phone and made sure it was ready to record audio before moving over to the last door. She and Kurt pressed their ears to the door, straining to hear inside. A moment later they were rewarded with an obviously feminine moan and Rachel quickly hit record on her phone.

They waited another few moments and heard another, louder moan. This was quickly followed by a shouted exclamation, muffled by the door but still audible to the two pressing their ears to the door.

"Fuck! Santana, right there!"

Kurt and Rachel exchanged a wide-eyed look, simultaneously pleased they had been right and disturbed at actually having to overhear their roommate cheating on her girlfriend.

"We should go-" Rachel's hushed whisper was cut off by more talking from the other side of the door, and the duo instantly quieted and strained to listen.

"You like when I fuck you this hard, baby?"

"Yes!"

"Are you gonna be a good girl and scream my name when I make you come?"

"Always!"

Kurt and Rachel exchanged another, more terrified look before quickly rushing out of the hallway and heading straight for the exit to the venue.

"I will never get those sounds out of my head!" Kurt shrieked as he and Rachel stumbled out the doors and onto the sidewalk out front.

"I need like a thousand showers to recover from that," Rachel agreed, "I feel disgusting having just listened to them."

"But you recorded it, right?" Kurt asked, hoping their terrifying experience had not been in vain.

"Of course," Rachel confirmed, leading Kurt to a nearby alcove and replaying the audio clip. They frowned as they listened to the clip, the pumping bass of the backing music and some guys singing along to 'Cherry Pie' were the only audible sounds. Rachel replayed it and turned the volume up, but was severely disappointed to find her plan had been foiled by her phone mic's inability to pick up audio from behind a closed door with loud music pumping through the room.

"Great, I just exposed myself to something that will take months of therapy to undo and it didn't even serve its purpose," Kurt muttered, angrily crossing his arms as he led the way towards the subway station.

"Well, at least we know we were definitely right in our assumption that Santana's cheating on Brittany…now we just have to work on our plan to get Britt in a room with Dani and Santana."

"Tomorrow," Kurt replied quickly, "We can start planning tomorrow…I do not want to hear those names for the rest of the night."

* * *

A/N: Uh-oh, Kurt and Rachel know, what will happen next? Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Here are the songs mentioned in this chapter:

Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back)

Aqua - Barbie Girl [Interestingly enough, I wrote this chapter a couple months before Naya's performance on Lip Sync Battle.]

Usher - You Make Me Wanna

Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know

Warrant - Cherry Pie


	16. Chapter 16

Dani stared at the caller ID on her cell phone, trying to figure out why Rachel Berry could possibly be calling her. For a moment, she worried that Rachel found out about her and Santana and was calling to confront her, but she quickly pushed the fear aside. She picked up just before the final ring, "Hello?"

"Hi Dani! It's Rachel," a chipper voice greeted her.

A smile quirked at Dani's lips, her earlier worry dissipating at the cheerful tone, "Hey Rachel, it's been a while."

There was a brief pause, which indicated that Rachel was either caught off guard or feeling guilty, "Yes, it has. I'm sorry that I haven't really kept in touch. Kurt and I came to see your band perform a few months ago, you were amazing!"

"Thanks," Dani replied with a small chuckle, wondering where this conversation was going, "You should have stopped by to say hi after the show."

"Yes, well…we were a little distracted after, but we meant to reach out to congratulate you and I guess it slipped our minds."

"So, what's up?" Dani prompted, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Oh, right," Rachel replied, appearing to realize that she had called Dani for a reason, "Well, Kurt and I are planning a party for some friends, and we thought it would be amazing to have a live band."

Dani quirked an eyebrow, wondering if this conversation was going where she thought it was, "Uh huh…"

"And since you're in a band - a very talented band, I might add - we were hoping that you would be interested in performing at our party. We'd pay you of course, I'm not sure what you charge for private events, but we could probably pull together a couple hundred…"

Dani tuned out of Rachel's babbling about money; she wanted to get answers to her more pressing concerns, "Why are you asking me? There are tons of other bands in the city and I'm sure many would be willing to perform for free food and alcohol."

"Like I said, we know you and your band have a lot of talent," Rachel explained, "And our party is Beatles themed and I happened to notice on your band's website that two of the members were in a Beatles cover band. It's very important we get a band with a large repertoire of Beatles songs."

"You stalked my band's website?" Dani teased, finding it highly amusing to picture Rachel reading up on her band. The other woman made a noncommittal hum in response, and Dani had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Although she wasn't sure why Rachel had gone through the effort to check out her band, she was correct about the band's history. Max and Pete had started a Beatles cover band together in college - they claimed it was just to get chicks, but Dani knew they were both obsessed with the band. She and Toby had a decent knowledge of Beatles songs and would likely be able to keep up…but while the idea of performing at a Beatles themed party sounded fun, Dani knew it wasn't as easy as accepting the offer.

"What type of party is it?"

"It's going to be a rooftop party," Rachel enthused, "Kurt and I already have the venue selected and it was cheap to rent because it's just a rooftop. But we have big ideas. Several of our friends from high school will be visiting this weekend, so we decided to plan the party to coincide with their visit. We'll also have some friends from NYADA join us since we're going all out with the decor, drinks, and of course, music. The idea is to have it be a collaborative night of music between the band and our guests. The band will be allowed to perform whatever Beatles songs they want, and since so many of our friends are musically inclined, we thought it would be fun to have whoever else wants to perform a song join the band from time to time - as long as they stay on theme of course."

Dani listened in amusement as Rachel rambled on about the party details. She was clearly excited and Dani had to admit, it sounded like a party she would actually want to attend. "High school friends, huh? I'm assuming Santana will be there then."

"Well, yes," Rachel replied, "But Kurt and I figured that since you two haven't been together in over a year, it wouldn't be too big of a deal if you were both at the same party."

There was something off about Rachel's tone that Dani couldn't quite place, it was as if she was trying a little too hard to sound nonchalant, but Dani didn't know why that would be, "I don't know, Rachel. I think it would be pretty uncomfortable. Does she know you're asking me to perform at this party?"

"Well she doesn't know about the party," Rachel explained, "None of our high school friends do, it's going to be a surprise to thank them for coming to visit us."

Dani frowned at that, "I don't really feel comfortable performing at this party if Santana doesn't know I'll be there. I feel like it could make her really uneasy when she should be having a good time with her friends."

There was a pause and Dani thought she heard a frustrated sigh from the other end of the line before Rachel spoke up again, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind, she'll probably be happy to see you doing so well with your band."

"I don't think it's a good idea, Rachel…"

"Just consider it," Rachel pleaded, "You would really be helping Kurt and me out, it's hard to find a talented band who knows a lot of Beatles songs on such short notice."

"I'll think about it," Dani replied, knowing she wouldn't get Rachel off the phone unless she pretended to at least consider the offer.

"Great! Oh, and please don't say anything to Santana, the party's supposed to be a surprise."

"Why would I say anything to Santana?" Dani questioned, confused as to why Rachel would offer the warning.

"Oh…well, I just wasn't sure, you know, with you feeling uncomfortable performing if she didn't know you would be there. I thought maybe you would reach out to her or something to ask, but please don't do that because it would ruin the surprise."

"I don't even have her number anymore," Dani replied, noticing Rachel seemed more nervous than usual as she explained herself.

"Great! Well, I mean, not great. But I'm glad you won't tell her. Really, I think she'll be fine with it though."

"Okay then," Dani said, a confused frown forming on her face, "Well, I gotta go meet up with my band."

"Of course, and feel free to ask them what they think about the idea!" Rachel replied, her earlier enthusiasm back, "Goodbye Dani!"

"Bye Rachel," the blonde hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment before going into her contacts and selecting a familiar number.

"Hey beautiful, I was just thinking of you," Santana purred after answering on the second ring, "Are you on your way to the studio?"

Dani grinned at the sound of Santana's voice and almost let herself be distracted by the flirtatious words before remembering why she was calling, "I'm about to leave, but I just got a very odd call."

"Odd how?" Santana asked, her earlier seductive tone replaced with confusion.

"Odd as in Rachel Berry."

"What?!" Santana's sharp tone cut through the phone, "Why? What did she want?"

Dani chuckled as Santana's questions perfectly encapsulated Dani's reaction when she saw Rachel's name on her caller ID. "Well, you're not supposed to know about this," she began with a teasing tone, "But she and Kurt are throwing some sort of party for your friends this weekend and she asked me if my band would play at the party." The idea seemed even more ridiculous voiced aloud and Dani couldn't help but smirk. If only Rachel knew that she and Santana were still very much in contact with one another, the petite brunette would have never asked her to perform. As cool as the party sounded, Dani was well aware there was absolutely no way she would accept the offer, but it was still pretty amusing and she was prepared to share a laugh with Santana over the absurdity of the situation.

"She did what?!" Santana cried out in disbelief, "Well, you obviously can't do that."

She frowned at Santana's reaction. She had expected the other woman to be shocked - and of course Dani knew she couldn't show up at the party given the nature of their relationship - but she found herself getting irritated by the tone Santana had used as well as her implication that Dani would have even considered the offer.

"Oh really, and why is that?" Dani snipped back, letting her frustration get the best of her.

"Dani, you know why," Santana replied sternly, her own tone reflecting more than a hint of irritation.

The blonde felt her frustration turn to anger. She knew the situation with Santana was complicated, but it was something they had agreed to. Part of why Dani didn't mind the whole arrangement was because Santana didn't make her feel like some side piece. Santana almost never brought up Brittany or her relationship when she was with Dani. She always prioritized Dani during their times together, which were so frequent that Dani didn't know how Santana got away with spending so many evenings at her apartment instead of with her girlfriend. The past couple of weeks, in particular the night of Elliott's birthday, had been leading Dani to believe that Santana had real feelings for her and was considering leaving her girlfriend so they could be together. But the words Santana had just said felt like a slap in the face and reminded Dani of just where she stood.

"You're right, I'd hate to upset your precious fucking girlfriend," Dani snapped, "I forgot that I'm just a convenient toy for you to use, but that I'm not an actual part of your life."

"Dani, that's not fair - " Santana started, her own frustration clear in her rising volume.

"Save it. I'll see you at the party, Santana." Dani hung up and immediately opened her message app to send a text to Rachel.

 _Dani (1:13pm): We'll do it._

* * *

A/N: Only a couple of chapters left!


	17. Chapter 17

The day after her fight with Santana, Dani was already regretting her decision to accept the offer and called Rachel to try and get out of performing at the party. Her frustration and hurt over the call with Santana still lingered, but she knew it would be better to back out of the arrangement and endure the irritation from her band members, who were really looking forward to the gig, in order to sort out the situation with Santana in private. However, since it was only two days until the party, Rachel threw a diva level meltdown at the change of plans. Ten minutes into her hysterical rant, Dani surrendered and agreed to perform.

The blonde then called Elliott to vent about the situation she had found herself in; although he didn't agree with her impulsive reaction to the fight with Santana, he volunteered to accompany Dani and her band to the party to try and ease the tension so that everyone, including Santana and Dani, could enjoy the party as much as possible.

The night of the party arrived and Dani seemed to be the only person dreading the event as an enthusiastic Kurt and Rachel showed her equally excited band where to set up for the evening. They told the band to play whatever Beatles songs they wanted, but reminded them that party goers would be encouraged to perform with the band as well.

Dani and her bandmates set to work getting the instruments set up and did a brief soundcheck while Rachel and Kurt ran around getting the roof decorated for the party. The set up of the roof was more similar to the final scene of Across the Universe than to the Beatles 1969 rooftop concert; however, neither Kurt nor Rachel seemed to care when Toby pointed this out to them.

Dani had to admit they had done an excellent job with the decorations, string lights ran along and across the roof, allowing for plenty of illumination even though the sun had set an hour earlier. They had a bar and food table set up in one corner while the rest of the roof was decorated with rugs and pillows for guests who wanted to sit and enjoy the music.

The door leading to the rooftop opened to reveal Kurt's boyfriend Blaine, who Dani recognized from the many pictures Kurt had showed her during their One Three Hill days, leading a group of people out to the roof. She knew right away that these were Santana's friends from glee club, but her suspicions were confirmed as Rachel greeted her friends, shouting out the names Dani recognized from stories Santana had told her.

She took a moment to try and match names to the people she had heard so much about, but never met. She recognized the beautiful blonde as Quinn - she had seen pictures from Santana's cheerleading days, which helped her to spot her right away. There was only one person in a wheelchair, so Dani knew that had to be Artie. Rachel called out to Tina and Mike before enveloping them in tight hugs, helping Dani to place their names to faces. The only two remaining Dani knew had to be Sam and Mercedes.

A small smile formed on her face, proud of herself for remembering the names of Santana's glee friends. She had wanted to meet them back when she and Santana were dating, and now she was getting her wish - only not under ideal circumstances. She still wanted to meet them properly someday, knowing what a big role they all played in Santana's life. Tonight would be difficult and complicated enough though, Dani was dreading the events to come and hoped things would go as smoothly as possible. Fortunately, Santana and her girlfriend hadn't arrived with the others and Dani briefly wondered if Santana had made an excuse to stay home. She felt even more guilty at the thought and hoped that she hadn't ruined the evening for the woman she knew she was developing strong feelings for.

Although her frustration over the conversation three days prior still lingered, it had mostly been replaced by guilt and an overwhelming desire to make things right with Santana. She wasn't worried that this would be the end for them, a realization that had startled her at first. Despite the confusion and uncertainty around their unconventional 'relationship', Dani was confident that Santana wasn't done with her and she wasn't done with Santana.

Kurt and Rachel's friends from NYADA began to trickle in, indicating that the party was officially starting. As Kurt and Rachel made opening remarks to the party goers, Dani and her band were getting ready to go on "stage", which was just a few carpets laid beneath their instruments. Elliott handed around bottles of water to the band before stealthily handing Dani a shot of tequila, which she gratefully accepted and tossed back. She knew she couldn't drink her stress away tonight, but having a shot here or there might help take the edge off.

As Rachel finally drew her part of the opening speech to a close, the band took their places behind their instruments, earning applause ranging from polite to excited from the audience. Dani picked up her guitar for the opening number and led the band into 'Come Together'.

Dani looked around the crowd as she performed, noticing the NYADA students stayed to one side, while the glee kids stayed in a group on the other. However, the party goers seemed content with the natural division of the group along friend lines. Furthermore, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves as they sipped their drinks, chatted amongst themselves, and watched the band.

The mellow vibe of the party helped Dani to relax as she sang along to the bizarrely intriguing lyrics of the song. However, her earlier tension rapidly returned as soon as the rooftop door opened to reveal Santana accompanied by a blonde that Dani knew had to be her girlfriend.

While Brittany enthusiastically headed over to join her friends, Santana remained in place, fixing Dani with a disapproving glare before heading over to join the group. Dani wasn't exactly surprised by the reaction, but was pleased that it was relatively tame by Santana standards.

Dani focused her attention on random faces in the audience, trying not to be too distracted by thoughts of Santana as she finished the first song. As planned, immediately following the opening song, Kurt took the stage to sing 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!'.

Dani switched out her guitar for her keyboard, feeling Pete's gaze on her. She'd had to divulge more of her personal life that she wanted to her band members when she explained who was throwing the party and that they were friends of Santana's. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of the situation, she'd told her band members that she and Santana were not on the best terms, so they should refrain from making their usual jokes and comments towards the other woman. Her band members had been confused, but their confusion had quickly turned to concern when Dani added that Santana would likely be at the party with another woman and that they shouldn't draw attention to it or call her out.

Of all her bandmates, she knew Pete was most concerned for her, hence the worried glances he was shooting in her direction at the moment. Although he was the one to tease the others the most and could be an irritating ass when he wanted to, Pete was also the most genuine and always had his bandmates' backs. Dani appreciated these traits, but hoped he wouldn't say anything to Santana tonight.

The band tackled the musically complex song as best they could given their limited array of instruments. Fortunately, it seemed the audience didn't mind the limited musical accompaniment of the song and sang along and applauded Kurt's performance when he finished.

"Please Please Me?" Toby suggested as he glanced through the notes they had created of the songs they all knew well enough to perform.

Dani could feel Pete's eyes on her and knew he was concerned about her feeling uncomfortable performing the song in front of Santana. However, Dani knew most of the well known Beatles songs were love songs, so she couldn't exactly shy away from them tonight. Besides, her feelings for Santana hadn't changed any, despite what her band members might think.

"Sounds good," she said with a nod before switching back to guitar and taking her place behind the center of three mics set up at the front of the stage for groups who wanted to sing together later in the evening. As she sang the lyrics, she performed to the audience as she always did, but made a conscious effort to avoid looking at Santana, not wanting to meet the disapproving gaze of the gorgeous woman.

She did her best to have fun with the song, enjoying having both Toby and Pete providing backing vocals. The crowd responded enthusiastically to the song and cheered loudly when they finished, and Dani grinned at the response.

Blaine stepped up to the stage with Sam and Tina in tow, "Can we do 'With a Little Help from My Friends'?"

"Of course!" Dani enthused with a nod, glancing over at the band behind her to make sure they heard the request. As she made her way back towards the keyboard, Pete leaned in to whisper to her, "Seems like someone's still getting hot and bothered by your singing."

Dani shot him a confused look, before following his gaze to see Santana eyeing her with a familiar look of lust. It wasn't the full-blown, crazy aroused look of pure desire Santana often had after the band's shows, but it also wasn't the pissed off expression Dani had expected her to have. A small smirk formed on the blonde's face as she continued back to her keyboard. She couldn't help but smile as she watched the three friends perform the next song. Their friendship and care for each other was evident as they sang along, arms wrapped around one another as best they could with microphones.

She found her gaze drifting towards Santana more often during this song as she didn't have to sing and wasn't the center of attention on stage. She found that Santana's gaze was occasionally on her, but more often than not, the other woman seemed to be trying to distract herself by talking to Quinn or watching the trio on stage.

Dani wasn't upset by the lack of attention from Santana, because she noticed that whenever the other woman's gaze did land on her, her expression didn't hold any of the earlier disapproval, only thinly veiled longing.

Two NYADA students headed onstage next to sing 'Drive My Car', and Dani was relieved to be able to stay behind the keyboard and quietly observe Santana for another few minutes. When the song wrapped up, the band had a brief break, which they took advantage of to head to a 'backstage' area where they had stored their things, but was as open to the party as the rest of the rooftop.

"It seems to be going well so far," Dani observed as she took a long sip of water, finding herself no longer anxious, but mildly flustered in Santana's presence.

"Yeah, because we're awesome," Pete replied, causing the others to laugh.

"The people who've performed with us so far have been pretty good," Toby mused as he leaned against the half wall of the roof.

"They're all either NYADA students or former glee club members," Dani explained, "So we probably won't have to endure any terrible vocals tonight."

"What should we do next?" Max asked the group.

Dani thought about the question for a moment, a small smirk appearing on her face, "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"

"I never thought you'd ask," Pete replied with a cheeky grin.

Dani laughed and shoved his arm, "Only in your dreams."

"How long were you waiting to make that joke?" Max teased as the band made their way back to their instruments.

"How dare you insinuate I have to plan my jokes," Pete scoffed in mock offense.

Dani left her instruments behind as she headed for the main mic, deciding that this was the song to show off her moves and really drive Santana crazy. Although a part of her knew it was wrong and that this wasn't the time or place to be teasing Santana, she couldn't help but want to show off in front of Brittany and have Santana feel lust for her and only her. Besides, it was a short song and Santana had endured far worse seductive torture at her hands.

Although the song only had two lines repeated over and over, Dani managed to sell the blatantly sexual lyrics even further by gripping the mic stand and moving her body to the beat as if she was working for tips. The seductive sway of her hips was something that came easily to her as she incorporated similar sex appeal into her moves at most performances; however, most of their gigs were on a larger scale and it felt way more intimate to dance the way she was for such a small crowd.

She managed to avoid looking at Santana for most of the song, but glanced over at the final repetition of the lyrics. Locking her gaze with the woman who was staring at her with such intensity, Dani felt her own arousal spike.

She was only distracted from Santana when someone approached her as soon as the song ended, "I know I just sang with my friends, but can I do another song?"

Dani reluctantly turned her attention to the man in front of her and realized it was Sam, "Sure," she replied with a cheerful nod, hoping to mask how turned on she was. She was grateful that someone else would be singing as it gave her a chance to cool down.

She picked up her guitar and followed Pete's lead as he played the opening riff of 'I've Just Seen a Face' at Sam's request. She moved over to one of the other mics on stage to help with backing vocals and noticed as Sam started the first verse that he was glancing over at her.

It took her a moment to catch on, but her face broke into a grin as she realized he was serenading her. A chuckle escaped her as he took her smile as permission to move closer and sing the second half of the first verse to her.

 _"Had it been another day_

 _I might have looked the other way_

 _And I'd have never been aware._

 _But as it is I'll dream of her_

 _Tonight, di-di-di-di'n'di."_

Sam danced around Dani, his gaze focused on the blonde guitarist as he moved into the first chorus. Dani couldn't help but smirk at the unexpected serenade, flattered by the attention she was receiving.

When he reached the second chorus, Sam dropped to his knees beside Dani as he belted the lyrics into the microphone. Dani grinned and shook her head at the dramatics, her gaze finding Santana's for the first time since the song began. She was shocked to see the intensity of the glare that was being fixed on Sam. Dani had heard the phrase 'if looks could kill', but had never truly understood the expression until that moment.

The jealousy radiating off of Santana caused Dani to smirk as she returned her attention to Sam who was finishing up the last verse and moving into the final chorus. She wasn't sure if she had ever seen Santana look so possessive and angry. Although it was amusing, Dani also found it a bit ridiculous as Sam was a guy and Santana knew that she was only interested in girls. And more specifically, only really interested in Santana, as much as she hated to admit it.

The song ended to enthusiastic cheers and whistles, mostly from the former glee kids as they encouraged Sam's newfound crush. Dani chuckled as she glanced at the expectant face of Sam, knowing he was waiting for her reaction.

"I'm very flattered," she told the blond man with the unusually large mouth, "But I have a song that might clear some things up." She explained, turning around to mouth 'I Saw Her Standing There' to her band mates. The guys nodded before waiting for Dani to take the lead mic while Sam rejoined his friends.

After singing the first verse and chorus, Dani took the mic from the stand and made her way over to a group of the NYADA girls who were swaying to the music. The blonde danced along with the girls who eagerly showcased their best moves, seemingly flattered by the attention directed towards them.

 _"Well she looked at me_

 _And I, I could see_

 _That before too long_

 _I'd fall in love with her_

 _She wouldn't dance with another_

 _Oh, when I saw her standing there"_

Dani glanced over at Rachel who was tentatively standing near her group of friends from school, seemingly unsure if Dani would be okay with her joining in. She winked at Rachel and nodded her head, encouraging the petite brunette to join her and the NYADA girls as they continued to move to the music.

During the instrumental break, Dani glanced over towards the glee kids to see if Sam was catching on to the message she was trying to convey. Sam was clapping and dancing along with his friends, seemingly enjoying the song and not too upset by any message Dani may have been trying to express. Her gaze swept towards Santana, who she noticed seemed unamused, but was not quite as angry as she'd been while watching Sam perform. Dani smirked, knowing that Santana was likely quite jealous at the lack of attention she was receiving while Dani danced with the NYADA girls. The blonde started into the next verse as she moved over to where the glee club girls, including Santana, were standing or dancing. Although she made a show of looking only at the other girls surrounding Santana, she moved directly toward the only girl on her mind.

 _"Well my heart went boom_

 _When I crossed that room_

 _And I held her hand in mine"_

Dani approached Santana as if she'd just happened to end up in front of her and held her hand out. She watched a small smirk play on Santana's lips as she took the offered hand, allowing Dani to spin her around before dancing exclusively with Santana for the rest of the verse.

 _"Oh we danced through the night_

 _And we held each other tight_

 _And before too long_

 _I fell in love with her"_

Dani winked at Santana at the last lyric, before reluctantly releasing her hand and moving over to dance with Tina and Mercedes.

When the song ended, Dani moved back to the stage smiling at the applause behind her. She hoped that Sam, as well as any other straight men, had caught on to what she was saying with that song. It hadn't exactly been subtle, but she couldn't be sure the guys saw anything other than her dancing with chicks and finding it hot.

Rachel approached the stage and Dani glanced over at her.

"I'd like to use the energy of the crowd to perform a song now," Rachel announced, to which Dani nodded and stepped aside.

"Of course, what'll be?"

"I'll be singing 'If I Fell', but I'd like to do a stripped down version a la Evan Rachel Wood in Across the Universe," she explained, "So I'll just need one guitar to accompany me. Everyone else can take a break."

Dani couldn't help but smirk as the bossy diva attitude came out and she nodded, conveying the message to the band before stealthily playing a quick round of 'rock, paper, scissors' with Pete. She won, which meant he had to stay on stage while she left with Toby and Max.

As Rachel began her song, Dani and Elliott made their way to the back of the roof to grab waters for the band.

"You've been killing it," Elliott announced proudly, eliciting a grin from the blonde. "And I haven't been the only one to notice."

Dani chuckled, picking up on his pointed tone, "You don't think I overdid it with the dancing in the last song?" She asked, feeling a little nervous that dancing for nearly the full verse with just Santana may have made others suspicious.

"No way," Elliott replied with a shake of his head, "It was subtle, but for those of us in the know, very sweet. She looked really happy."

Dani felt herself blush at the comment and tried to hide it by taking a sip of water.

"Speak of the devil," Elliott whispered, grabbing a few bottles of water before quickly heading back to the band's break area. Dani frowned at his quick departure before glancing behind her to see Santana approaching the drink table.

"Hey," Santana said, a small smile forming on her lips as she walked up to the blonde.

"Hi there," Dani replied cautiously, letting Santana take the lead in the conversation.

"You look really good out there," Santana murmured, her voice quiet but the flirtatious tone clear in her words and the way her gaze swept over Dani.

"Thanks," Dani grinned, holding Santana's gaze until the other woman glanced away to look at the crowd behind her. She could tell Santana was concerned about others noticing them, so she decided to change the subject before they escalated into full-on flirting. "What's going on with Rachel?" She nodded towards the woman on stage letting out a powerful version of the love song.

Santana snorted in amusement, "Berry's crushing on one of her classmates," she gestured towards a NYADA student in the crowd.

"That obviously gay man?" Dani asked, a confused frown forming as she glanced at the man Santana had indicated.

"Ugh thank you," Santana groaned, "I've told Rachel that like a thousand times and she says I don't know what I'm talking about."

"He's literally checking Pete out and not paying the slightest bit of attention to her," Dani commented, observing the guy who Rachel had a crush on.

Santana laughed, the sound distracting Dani and she met the other woman's gaze with a smile. The two were distracted by someone approaching and they glanced over as Sam walked up to them.

"Hey, sorry about earlier. I didn't know you were, you know…"

"A lesbian?" Dani smirked, amused by the awkwardness of the blond man, "No worries, I thought your song was sweet. You had no way to know I was only into the ladies." She winked, helping to alleviate his discomfort and he smiled at the comment.

"You and Santana have that in common," he replied as he gestured to the other woman in a clumsy attempt to contribute to the conversation.

"Is that so?" Dani asked, doing her best to feign surprise as she glanced over at Santana, who was smirking back at her.

"But don't get any ideas," Sam rushed to clarify, "She has a girlfriend."

Dani felt her irritation spike, but quickly reminded herself that Sam didn't know she and Santana even knew each other. His intentions had been good natured even if his words caused Dani to feel pissed off and possessive.

"That's too bad," she replied, letting her gaze sweep longingly over Santana before turning and leisurely walking away, adding a sensual sway of her hips with every step. Behind her, she heard Sam mutter, "Damn, she's so hot."

Dani couldn't help but glance over her shoulder, winking in the direction of the two friends who she could tell had both been staring at her ass. Sam had the decency to look away, embarrassed at having been overheard and caught leering, whereas Santana merely met her gaze, making it clear she was going to watch Dani every step of the way back.

Her heart was pounding with excitement at having Santana check her out so blatantly even when surrounded by friends. However, Dani didn't get to enjoy the moment for long as she had to return to the stage to take the keyboard for a NYADA student's performance of 'Revolution'.

The band had fun with the song as did the audience, clearly appreciating the change of pace after Rachel's slow and somewhat somber rendition of 'If I Fell'. Dani could tell that Santana was paying attention to her, but she resisted the temptation to look over as often as she could. Whenever she did allow her gaze to wander to Santana, she always found the other woman watching her with a small smile, causing Dani's heart to flutter and a smile to form on her own face before she looked away.

"Mind if I step in?" Elliott asked, gesturing towards the microphone after the song ended.

"Go for it," Dani encouraged her friend.

"Great, you'll need the guitar for this one," he explained as Dani nodded and got up to switch instruments, "And I'll need this," he announced as he grabbed the now-vacated stool by her keyboard. Dani frowned as she watched him move the stool to the middle of the stage.

"What song?" Pete asked as he used Elliott's stage adjustment to take a brief water break.

"I'm feeling 'She Loves You'" he told the band members, shooting a devious grin at Dani and heading to the microphone before she could say anything.

"Elliott!" She hissed behind him, knowing from the look he had given her that he hadn't chosen the song just because he liked it.

He ignored her as he took the mic and addressed the audience, "How is everyone doing tonight?" He called out, getting enthusiastic cheers from the crowd, "They're really great, right?" He asked, waving a hand towards the band to more excited applause.

"Now this next song really needs to be performed to someone, a serenade if you will," Elliott explained, "But an upbeat one," he clarified, earning chuckles from those in the audience who realized he was gently poking fun at Rachel's performance. "So if someone would be willing to join me on stage," he was cut off by eager cheers and various arms going up.

Dani watched in amusement as Rachel's crush was one of the first arms to go up. She had a feeling where her friend was going with this, but simply watched as he made a show of glancing out over the crowd, as if seriously contemplating his choice.

"How about you," he said as he pointed to Santana, who had been one of the few women not raising her hand. "Come on up," Elliott encouraged.

Dani realized she was holding her breath and slowly released it as Santana made her way up to the stage.

"Hey there, what's your name?"

Dani raised an eyebrow, amused at how Elliott was really trying to sell that he had randomly selected a person from the audience. She glanced over at Kurt and Rachel, who were whispering to each other and seemed more intrigued than confused by Elliott's act.

"Santana," the woman played along, allowing Elliott to lead her to the stool in the stage, which was conveniently located a foot away from Dani.

Elliott positioned himself so he was to the right of Santana, with Dani standing with her guitar to the left of Santana.

"Beautiful name," he said, "Thank you for joining me onstage, Santana. I much prefer performing this next song to someone. But don't worry, much like my friend Dani over there, I am also not of the straight persuasion." He added with a wink, causing Santana to smirk as she glanced over at the blonde to her left.

"Hopefully you're okay with being serenaded by a gay man," Elliott teased.

"I'm actually a lesbian as well," Santana said, continuing to play along with Elliott's charade of ignorance as she tore her gaze from Dani and looked back at Elliott. Chuckles and a few cheers broke out from the gay-friendly audience, followed by a loud whoop, that Dani knew without even looking had come from Santana's girlfriend.

"No kidding. Well, I think you'll enjoy this song even more then," Elliott continued, nodding towards the band before launching into 'She Loves You'.

Elliott made a dramatic show of singing to Santana as he moved around the stage, causing her to laugh at his antics.

Dani found herself smiling along as she watched her best friend performing to the woman she admittedly did have strong feelings for. She realized that she wasn't as pissed at Elliott for choosing this song as she thought she would be. She knew a large part of that was due to Santana's reaction as the woman grinned and laughed along to the lyrics that Elliott was singing to her. Dani could tell that Santana knew what Elliott was up to and was aware just who he was referring to as the 'she' in the song.

Dani was glad that Pete and Toby had taken the backing vocals for the song as she would have been too flustered to sing along to the lyrics. It also conveniently allowed her to focus more on the scene playing out before her as Elliott continued to move around Santana, doing his cheesiest moves and making the woman seated next to him laugh.

As the song neared the end, Elliott moved towards Dani, casually draping his arm around his blonde friend as he began the final refrain.

 _"Because she loves you_

 _And you know that can't be bad_

 _Yes, she loves you_

 _And you know you should be glad"_

Dani knew Elliott hadn't ever intended to be subtle with the message he was conveying to Santana, but felt her face flush as Santana's attention was now focused on her. As Elliott moved into the final chorus, Dani risked glancing up at Santana and saw the other woman was looking only at her, the same bright smile on her face as when she was watching Elliott goof off around the stage. Santana subtly raised an eyebrow, calling attention to the lyrics Elliott was still crooning, causing Dani to give a shy smile in response.

Elliott moved away from Dani to stand next to Santana for the remainder of the song. The audience cheered for his performance as he bowed before turning and bowing his head to thank Santana for being a willing participant.

Noticing that there was no one cued up to perform a song, Dani approached her band mates, "What should we do next?"

"Here's what we have left," Toby said showing her the list of songs that he'd been narrowing down with each performance. She scanned the list before getting to one which caught her eye, "This one?" She showed the selection to the band, who nodded in agreement with her decision.

"Oh and Pete," she said as the guitarist looked at her, "I've got the lead on this one."

He saluted her decision, "Glad for the break," he teased, knowing she almost always took the rhythm guitar part since she was also the lead singer.

She stuck her tongue out at him before turning and approaching the main mic. Her gaze wandered over the crowd as she adjusted her guitar before fingerpicking the opening notes to 'Here Comes the Sun', her gaze lingered on Santana as the other woman instantly recognized the song and smiled as she recalled the same memory Dani had in mind.

Although it was difficult, Dani forced her attention elsewhere while she played, not wanting others in the crowd, namely Rachel or Kurt, to notice the way she and Santana were looking at each other. As she played the song, she thought back to the day she and Santana sang it as a duet at the diner. It felt like a lifetime ago with all that had happened since that innocent and sweet moment in time. Yet, as Dani played the song she was filled with hope that the desires she'd had back then - daydreams of being with Santana for a long time - would actually come true this time around.

Whenever she allowed herself to catch Santana's gaze, she found the same look reflected on her features that was present the first time they had sung this song together. The clear look of longing that she knew had been mirrored in her own expression that day. It was distracting to say the least, but Dani used every ounce of professionalism in her to continue playing the song to the audience instead of just to Santana.

The song came to an end and Dani grinned at the applause she received before turning to put her guitar down. As she made her way back towards her band to decide on the next one, she noticed a frown form on Pete's face, but she didn't have the opportunity to ask about his uncharacteristic scowl before someone appeared beside her. "You guys are really awesome," Brittany told the band, earning silent nods from the band members who were far too protective of Dani to offer their usual appreciation to such a remark.

"I was wondering if you know 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'?"

"You're asking if we know one of the Beatles most popular songs?" Pete scoffed, causing Dani to shoot him a 'play nice' look. Although she felt ill even standing next to the woman, she felt guilty over why she loathed the woman beside her so much, and wasn't about to be rude to her face.

"We know it," Dani replied with a nod, not looking over at the woman next to her.

"Awesome, I want to sing it to my girlfriend-"

"Girlfriend?" Toby scoffed, before getting a warning glare from Dani to keep quiet. "I mean, that's cool?" He asked, directing his confused response to Dani, as if asking if it was an acceptable response.

"Thanks guys, this is really special to me, you're all totally my unicorns right now." Brittany told the band before moving to take her place at the front of the stage.

"What did she just call us?" Max asked, a confused frown on his face.

"Is Santana really dating her?" Pete asked, getting a noncommittal shrug from Dani, "Putting aside any judgments I have from that interaction alone, I'd say that girl has clearly been oblivious to how Santana has been eye-fucking you all night."

Dani fought the urge to smirk, but knew that Pete noticed as he grinned at her reaction. "Anyway," she replied, nodding towards the audience, "Let's get to it, I guess."

She reluctantly took her place, guitar in hand. Pete led them into the song, with the others joining behind him. Dani bit her lip as Brittany began performing, noticing that vocally she was absolutely no competition. She felt bad for the pettiness of the thought, but knew she'd take any reassurance she could get knowing that Brittany was the one with the title Dani so desperately coveted.

She did notice that Brittany was a pretty good dancer, but was somewhat limited in what she could do given that she was taking the lead vocals. Dani realized that neither she nor her bandmates were providing backing vocals and wondered if the partygoers had picked up on this or not. Even if it may have been unprofessional to not provide back-up, Dani refused to sing along to the lyrics that Brittany was singing to the woman they both loved.

Instead, Dani focused her attention on her guitar as if really needed to concentrate on the chords of the song. She didn't dare look out at the audience, not wanting to risk seeing Santana. She didn't want to know how the other woman was reacting to the song - if she would look as aroused by Brittany singing as she always did when watching Dani.

Dani was eagerly anticipating the end of the song, which was quickly drawing closer, as Brittany took the mic and moved off stage. Dani ignored the urge to glance up and figure out where she was going, knowing the blonde was likely moving towards her girlfriend.

Brittany sang the final repetition of the chorus and Dani let out a sigh of relief, glad the song was over. However, Brittany began speaking into the mic, causing Dani's attention to snap over to her.

The other blonde had indeed ended up in front of Santana and was holding her hand in hers. Dani smugly noted that Santana looked surprised and confused, but was not wearing the look of pure lust that she had when Dani performed for her.

"I love you so much, Santana," Brittany began, addressing only her girlfriend, but speaking into the mic, "You're my best friend and you've always been so supportive of me and encouraged me to pursue dancing even when I didn't think I could do it. And now I have my dream job on Broadway and you've been there for me even though you haven't had your big break yet,"

Dani fought back a chuckle at the irritated expression that crossed Santana's face at the reminder.

"But I want you to know that I believe in you and I know you're going to do amazing things. And I want to hold your hand and be beside you the whole time. So, Santana Lopez, will you marry me?"

* * *

A/N: Sorry (not sorry) for the cliffhanger! I wasn't going to leave it at that, but the chapter was getting really long, so I decided to throw in a little suspense.

Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think! I have to admit, I've been really critical about these last few chapters, which is why there's been a bit of delay in posting them. I encourage any and all feedback, but if it's anything negative, please be nice about it because I'm already hesitant/nervous about posting the final chapters.


	18. Chapter 18

_"I love you so much, Santana," Brittany began, addressing only her girlfriend, but speaking into the mic, "You're my best friend and you've always been so supportive of me and encouraged me to pursue dancing even when I didn't think I could do it. And now I have my dream job on Broadway and you've been there for me even though you haven't had your big break yet,"_

 _Dani fought back a chuckle at the irritated expression that crossed Santana's face at the reminder._

 _"But I want you to know that I believe in you and I know you're going to do amazing things. And I want to hold your hand and be beside you the whole time. So, Santana Lopez, will you marry me?"_

Dani let out a shocked gasp, which was inaudible over the similar sounds of surprise escaping several other audience members at the unexpected question. She felt her stomach drop and noticed that Santana looked as shocked and caught off guard as she felt. Her heart pounded in her ears as she waited for Santana's response.

If she hadn't been so overwhelmed by the emotional turmoil raging inside her, she would have felt slightly bad for how trapped Santana seemed. It looked as if the other woman was wishing she was anywhere but here, and Dani knew she probably was. She noticed that for the first time tonight, Santana was very purposefully not looking her way, instead glancing around at her friends who were giving eager and encouraging smiles and nods.

"I, uh…" Santana started, shifting uneasily before meeting Brittany's gaze again.

"Girl, say yes already so we can celebrate!" Mercedes exclaimed, her friends cheering in agreement.

Santana let out a chuckle that Dani could tell was a nervous laugh, rather than a sound of genuine amusement.

"So is that a yes?" Brittany asked, her optimism clear in her voice as she gave Santana's hand a squeeze.

Santana glanced around again at the expectant faces in the room before giving a small nod, causing everyone to burst into cheers.

Dani felt as if her heart was being gripped by an invisible hand. A wave of dizziness swept over her and she realized she had been holding her breath since the question was asked. She took deep breaths, trying to ease the tightness in her chest as she moved off the stage towards the break area. She felt her band members watching her, but before they could follow her, Mercedes, Blaine, Tina, and Artie took the stage to perform 'All You Need is Love' for the newly engaged couple.

She could tell her band members were reluctant to play, their rhythm a bit off as they obviously were distracted trying to keep an eye on her. However, the others on stage didn't seem to notice as they continued to sing their hearts out.

Elliott came up beside Dani and wordlessly wrapped her in a tight hug. Dani was grateful to have a best friend who knew better than to ask if she was okay. Although they were still relatively out in the open, everyone on the roof was either watching the performance or the newly engaged couple, granting them some privacy. She forced herself to take deep breaths and not break down in tears as she so desperately wanted to.

"Why don't we get out of here?" Elliott suggested.

Dani pulled away and shook her head, "No, we're here until midnight."

"Dani, you don't owe anyone anything. Especially not Kurt or Rachel."

"I can't just run away," she replied quietly, not meeting his eyes, "When she broke up with me last time, it hurt so much. I was so upset and confused - I never got a proper explanation or a chance to say or do anything. And with Kurt and Rachel, it was like I stopped existing in their lives too. I mean, we kept One Three Hill going with Kurt for a while, but you saw how he was different around me and we disbanded the group not long after."

She paused to take a breath, trying to clear her head as the bad memories from the breakup piled on top of her current pain. "I'm not going to just slip out and make everything easier for them. I'm going to stay here with the band and finish out the set like I agreed to. I may not have much going for me right now, but I want to at least still be able to call myself a professional."

Elliott searched her face, but Dani made sure to maintain her determined expression until he gave a brief nod. "I can respect that, but Dani, you have a hell of a lot going for you. You don't need her."

Dani gave a curt nod, not letting his words sink in because she knew she had to keep all thoughts of Santana at bay to make it through the remainder of the hour.

"I should get back on stage," she said as the band wrapped up the current song and Elliot reached out to squeeze her shoulders.

"I'm here if you need anything, okay? And if you change your mind, I'm whisking you out of here so fast, it'll make your head spin."

Dani gave him a small, appreciative smile, "Thanks, El," she gave him another hug before making her way on stage, wondering if she had to sing or if a kindly NYADA student would come up to spare her.

"Santana, you need to perform a song for Brittany!" Tina enthused as she motioned her towards the stage.

"Oh, no. I'm not really prepared for that," Santana replied, quickly rejecting the suggestion.

"You totally need to," Blaine encouraged, "It will be so romantic!"

"Yeah, she serenaded you and now it's your turn," Sam added in.

Dani overheard the chatter from where she was adjusting her guitar, but hoped Santana would be clever enough to squash the idea and spare them both the agony. Unfortunately, it seemed like Santana was letting her down in multiple ways tonight as she reluctantly took the stage to applause from her friends.

"I don't know very many Beatles songs," Santana admitted to the band, unable to meet any of their gazes.

"Have you seen Across the Universe?" Pete asked, earning a snort from Santana who nodded.

"Living with Gayberry, I've seen that movie more times than I can count."

"You'll be just fine then," Pete replied with a devious smile that made Dani nervous, "Follow our lead," he instructed as he shared a look with Max who seemed to pick up exactly what he had in mind.

Dani gave the others a confused look as Santana approached the lead mic, with Dani reluctantly moving over to one of the backup mics.

Max started the song off on the drums with Pete joining in with the guitar. Dani would have smirked as she recognized 'Oh! Darling' if she didn't currently feel as if her heart had been ripped from her chest. But she knew exactly why Pete had referenced the movie.

Santana seemed to recognize the song as well and started into the first verse, her gaze sweeping around the crowd as opposed to fixing solely on Brittany. Dani noticed Pete and even Toby playing the occasional chord a little too sharply to mess with Santana.

Knowing she had to provide the backing vocals at some point, Dani waited until the first chorus to echo the lyrics. She poured even more feeling into the lyrics than the woman taking the lead, which caused Santana to glance over at her.

Santana was visibly reeling from Dani's passionate backing vocals and kept glancing over at the blonde guitarist as the two harmonized on the third verse.

 _"Oh! Darling, if you leave me_

 _I'll never make it alone_

 _Believe me when I tell you_

 _I'll never do you no harm"_

Santana tore her gaze away from Dani as the second chorus began, looking out over the crowd.

 _"When you told me you didn't need me anymore_

 _Well you know I nearly broke down and cried_

 _When you told me you didn't need me anymore_

 _Well you know I nearly fell down and died"_

The lyrics to the chorus were oddly cathartic for Dani and she let out her emotions over both of the times Santana had broken her heart. As the final verse began, Dani continued to pour as much emotion as she could into the words. Knowing them to be true no matter how much she was currently hurting. Santana's gaze had locked on her during the final verse and the two women sang the final lyrics to one another, letting the song express the emotions they couldn't say to one another.

 _"Oh! Darling, please believe me_

 _I'll never let you down_

 _Believe me when I tell you_

 _I'll never do you no harm."_

Dani held the final note, not breaking away from Santana's gaze until applause distracted her and she and Santana both glanced out at the crowd. Dani noticed that the applause was only coming from the NYADA students scattered around the roof, whereas the glee club members had expressions ranging from shock to confusion to disapproval.

With the rush of passion from the strong lyrics fading, the hurt and anger over the situation resurfaced, "Congrats on the engagement," Dani muttered as she walked past Santana to put her guitar on its stand.

"San, what's going on?" Brittany asked as she approached the stage.

Dani closed her eyes, glad her back was to the crowd as she felt the overwhelming emotions threaten to boil over, "I need a minute," she told Toby as she made her way to the band's break area.

"Let's go inside," she heard Santana say to her girlfriend and glanced over her shoulder to see the two heading for the rooftop door.

There was a noticeable tension that settled over the party with the glee club members focusing their attention on Dani as they whispered amongst themselves. The NYADA members on the other hand seemed oblivious to the tension, but were eager for more music.

Elliott rushed over to the band members, Dani watching him closely to figure out what he was doing, "We need to keep the music going," he told them, his voice conveying his desire to quickly smooth over the silence filling the party "Play something and I'll join in."

Pete nodded and began playing the opening notes to 'Help!', earning an unamused glare from Elliott at the mocking choice of song before he took the main mic to provide the lead vocals. Dani couldn't help but be grateful for her friend intervening to try and diffuse the tension in the room. She could still feel the eyes of the former glee club members on her and was sure they were still glancing her way, trying to figure out what was going on. Instead of looking over to confirm the feeling, she stood by the ledge of the roof, gazing out at the city.

She could sense someone approaching and glanced over as Kurt cautiously came to stand beside her. No greetings were exchanged between the two as Dani returned her gaze out over the city, hoping Kurt would get the message that she wanted to be alone.

"I'm sorry," he said so quietly, Dani barely heard it over the music.

"Did you know she was going to propose?"

"Of course not!" Kurt replied with an emphatic shake of his head, "I honestly had no idea. Rachel and I would have never asked you to perform tonight if we had known. We didn't want you to get hurt this way."

Dani frowned at the odd choice of words and glanced back at her former friend. She studied him a moment as she thought over his words and the bizarre course of events over the past few days, "Why did you and Rachel invite me here, Kurt?"

Kurt immediately broke eye contact, clearly caught off guard by the question and attempting to formulate an explanation.

"We just…I thought Rachel explained, it was short notice with the party and your band knows a lot of Beatles songs, which is right on theme for the party and very hard to find last minute…"

Dani watched as Kurt grew more and more flustered as he babbled out the reasoning behind inviting the band to the party. Realization slowly set in and Dani closed her eyes, feeling incredibly stupid for ever believing Rachel's justification for inviting her to perform, "You knew."

There was a brief silence before Kurt replied, "We saw you and Santana at the 90's karaoke night."

Dani let out a humorless chuckle, knowing they had been anything but subtle that night. Over the past couple of months, she and Santana had felt invincible, not bothering to sneak around or keep their affection behind closed doors. Given the size of the city they occupied they had felt anonymous and safe on date nights or when holding hands or sharing kisses in public. Obviously, they hadn't been as shielded by anonymity as they had thought. She briefly wondered if Brittany had known too, but figured the other girl wouldn't have proposed tonight if she had. Besides, this had Kurt and Rachel written all over it.

"So you planned this whole thing to expose us?"

"No, well I mean, yes. But it wasn't supposed to turn out like this." Kurt explained, "We just hoped that having you and Brittany in the same room would be a wake up call for Santana and she'd put an end to this or come clean."

Dani swallowed thickly, knowing that she was the expendable one in this situation. The one who Santana was meant to leave so that she could fix things with her girlfriend, well, fiancée now. She once again felt like an idiot for ever letting herself believe that Santana would have chosen her when it was so obvious to everyone else that Santana belonged with Brittany.

"We didn't mean for you to get hurt like this, Rachel and I just wanted Santana to stop hurting you and Brittany."

Dani looked into Kurt's eyes, seeing the sincerity reflected there. Even if he had known she wasn't going to be the one Santana chose, she could tell he hadn't wanted it to end this way. She nodded to let him know she accepted his explanation.

"I need some time to myself before I go back on stage," Dani said as she ran a hand through her hair, trying to pull herself together.

"You don't have to go back out there," Kurt said quietly, the guilt evident on his face. "It's almost midnight anyway, you and your band can leave early."

"We agreed to perform from 10 to midnight," Dani replied with as much resolve as she could muster, "We're finishing out the night."

As she had explained to Elliott earlier - she wouldn't allow herself to run away with her tail between her legs. Santana had broken her heart before, yet Dani had let her into her life and her heart once more only for Santana to destroy her even worse than the first time. She wasn't about to let Santana have the last of her pride too.

Kurt nodded before slipping away to rejoin the party. Dani took a deep breath, focusing her attention on the night sky and wishing she could see the stars. She wanted nothing more than to be in a large open field somewhere in the country where she could gaze up at the constellations and disconnect from the people, sounds, and chaos that surrounded her.

She turned her attention to the stage as a group of NYADA students took control of the microphones to sing 'Penny Lane' and Dani was grateful to have a break from singing, but made her way over to keyboard, welcoming the distraction of playing an instrument.

Unfortunately, Artie and Quinn took the stage after the NYADA students to perform 'Don't Let Me Down'. Dani wasn't sure if it was intended as another song to celebrate their friend's engagement, but the lyrics felt like they were cutting through her. She focused her attention on her keyboard, trying to block out the words and the thoughts they elicited as best she could.

The song drew to a close and Dani breathed a sigh of relief. "Mind if I have a minute?" She asked Pete, who gave a nod of encouragement, practically shooing her off stage. Although she had never been a smoker, Dani wished in that moment she had a cigarette to calm the swirl of emotions and thoughts in her head. She decided to turn to the next best thing that was available to her and headed back to where the bar was set up. The set was nearly done and she'd only had one shot before the show, so she didn't feel at all concerned about making herself a strong mixed drink. She knew it wouldn't be enough to get her drunk, but hopefully it would take the edge off.

As she took a sip of her drink and glanced around at the party, she noticed most of the former glee club members were watching the performance and were no longer watching her every move. She was grateful that Santana was no longer there, although she didn't want to think about where she and Brittany had gone or what they were doing.

* * *

Santana led the way back into the building, glad to have a break from the confused and judgmental gazes of the former glee club members. However, she knew the conversation she was about to initiate would be a hundred times worse than any looks she could receive from her friends.

She wandered through the empty office complex until she passed what appeared to be a break room and led Brittany inside, where they sat side by side on an uncomfortable couch.

"San, what was going on out there?" Brittany asked, her voice small and filled with confusion as she looked to her girlfriend for answers.

Santana sighed and tried to figure out where to start. She knew what she was about to say was going to hurt Brittany no matter where she started, but she didn't want to cause additional hurt by including unnecessary details.

"I haven't been honest with you for a while," Santana began, forcing herself to meet the confused blue eyes watching her, "I've been a really horrible, awful person lately."

"Don't say that," Brittany replied, reaching over to take the other woman's hand, but Santana pulled away, feeling too guilty to be comforted as she felt the weight of her actions resting heavily on her shoulders.

"I've been cheating on you," she whispered as she stared at her lap. She was too ashamed to meet Brittany's gaze as she admitted what she had done, knowing her confession was going to hurt the woman beside her.

"What?" Brittany asked, her disbelief evident in her voice, "With who?"

Santana sighed again, feeling the knot of guilt twist in her stomach, "My ex-girlfriend. Dani."

"But you left her for me," Brittany insisted, clearly not wanting to believe what Santana was saying was true.

"I know," Santana said with a nod, contemplating how much of the history to get into. "Do you remember that night when Kurt and Rachel were acting really weird and I followed them?" She risked a glance up as she waited for a nod of acknowledgment, "They were going to watch her band perform, and when I found them, I saw her for the first time since we broke up." Santana swallowed, feeling the rush of emotions she had felt that night.

"That was months ago Santana, you've been cheating on me this whole time?"

Santana shook her head, "No, well…" she paused to think, "It started about three weeks after that." She watched as Brittany closed her eyes, a tear running down her cheek. "I'm so sorry, Britt," her own voice choked with emotion as she confessed to the secret looming over her for months.

"Why?" Brittany asked, opening her eyes as she waited for an explanation.

Santana paused as she considered the question, wondering how to explain in a way that would be the least painful. Realizing there was no easy or right way to answer the question, Santana attempted to respond as best she could, "I don't know why I started it," she admitted honestly, "I've never been good at accepting that there are things I can't have, and she made it clear I couldn't have her again." Santana said before shaking her head, realizing she was inadvertently making it sound like it had been Dani's doing, "I wanted her and I pursued her. And I got what I wanted," Santana summarized, saving the specifics.

"So you've been cheating on me all this time because you wanted what you couldn't have?"

"No," Santana said, knowing there was more to the story, "At first, maybe that was why. But it's more than that. I have feelings for her."

"Feelings like you have for me?" Brittany asked, her voice shaky as she asked the question.

Santana nodded in response, her guilt nearly doubling at the obvious hurt in Brittany's voice. She knew her for feelings for Dani were different than her feelings for Brittany in the sense that her connection with Dani felt so much stronger than anything she'd ever had with the girl beside her, but she didn't want to hurt Brittany even more by trying to explain that to her. There was a silence between the two and Santana wasn't sure if she should keep talking or wait for Brittany to respond.

"Is she the one performing tonight?"

Santana took a deep breath, forcing herself to meet Brittany's questioning gaze as she nodded again.

"Did you know she was going to be here?"

Her voice was colder than Santana had ever heard it before and it caught her off guard, "I, uh, I wasn't sure," she responded, "Rachel and Kurt invited her band to perform because they know a lot of Beatles songs. She told me that Rachel invited her and I kind of freaked out and upset her, so we got into a fight. I was hoping she was bluffing when she said she would take Rachel up on the offer, but I didn't know for sure if she would be here until we got here tonight."

"But you saw her and you didn't tell me about any of this," Brittany protested, "Now it makes sense why you were acting so distant all night."

"I'm sorry," Santana apologized, not knowing how to justify keeping Brittany in the dark.

"You should have told me. She was dancing with you during that song and I saw how you were watching her while she sang, I just thought you were checking her out. But I had no idea…" Brittany trailed off, "I proposed to you."

Santana looked down as the guilt was proving to be nearly unbearable. She hated how broken Brittany sounded. "I know," she whispered quietly, "We can't get married, Brittany."

"Because you're choosing her?" The blonde asked, shock evident in her voice.

"That's not..." Santana started and shook her head, "I meant we can't get married because you deserve better. Someone so much better than me. You deserve someone who doesn't lie to you, someone who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated."

"I thought you were that person," Brittany admitted as she looked down.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be that person for you."

Brittany nodded, the two sharing a brief period of silence to mourn the loss of what had been.

"I'm so sorry for hurting you, Brittany. You're my best friend and I never wanted to cause you pain. I was so selfish - well, I am selfish. I just wanted everything and didn't care about how it hurt others. You don't deserve that."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't deserve that either," Santana agreed with a nod.

"No, I mean are you ending things with her, too?"

Santana swallowed as she tried to come up with a response to the question she'd hoped Brittany wouldn't ask. "I don't know if she'll want anything to do with me after tonight."

"Santana," Brittany said, her tone as serious as Santana had ever heard, "That's not what I asked."

Santana closed her eyes as she shook her head, "No." She couldn't see Brittany's reaction, but could feel the thick tension between the two begin to fade as unanswered questions began to be resolved.

"Thank you for being honest," Brittany replied quietly, and Santana knew the blonde was referring to her honesty about her feelings towards Dani.

"You have every right to hate me and never want to speak to me again," Santana began, glancing over at the woman who was refusing to meet her gaze, "But I'll always be here for you."

Brittany didn't respond at first as she continued to process everything. Just as Santana was contemplating whether or not to take the silence as her cue to leave, Brittany spoke up. "It's going to take a lot of time…but I don't think I could never speak to you again."

Santana felt a wave of relief wash over her, feeling encouraged by the response. "Okay," she replied, not knowing how else to respond as it seemed tacky to thank her for the response. "I'll be here whenever you're ready."

Brittany nodded as she stood up and headed for the door, pausing in the doorway to turn back to face Santana, "I'm going back to the loft, can you tell the others I'll see them tomorrow?"

"Of course," Santana replied with a nod, knowing it was going to suck to explain to their friends what happened. However, it was the least she could do since she had caused this whole mess. She took a couple minutes to collect herself before heading back up to rejoin the party. She knew she only had a limited window of time to straighten things out with Dani before the other woman left and possibly cut her out of her life entirely.

* * *

Dani sipped her drink, enjoying her vantage point from the back of the roof where she could observe the others in the room without them paying her any attention. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, singing and dancing along to the music or having side conversations with friends. She had to admit that Rachel and Kurt had planned a hell of a party, even if the purpose had been to split her and Santana up.

She pushed aside thoughts of Santana, not wanting to get lost in her emotions since she had to go on soon to perform with her band. Unfortunately, as soon as she made the decision to think of anything but Santana, the door opened and out walked the woman she was trying not to think about. She noticed that her fiancée wasn't with her, but tried not to waste her time wondering about the reasons behind that.

Santana glanced around the rooftop as if looking for someone. Dani realized that she might be the one being sought out just as Santana spotted her and began to make her way towards her. Panic set in and Dani knew she had to get away. She couldn't handle Santana trying to explain or apologize for what had happened. Dani wouldn't be able to keep her emotions at bay having Santana confirm that things were over between them. That was a conversation for another day, if Santana even wanted to see her again after tonight. For now, Dani just wanted to finish out the night and head home where she could finally be alone.

Knowing she had to escape somewhere where Santana wouldn't follow her, Dani made her way towards the band's break area. Although the area wasn't by any means private or secure, it was right off the stage in clear view of all the partygoers. Dani knew Santana wouldn't risk approaching her someplace where all her glee club friends would see her. She reached the break area and turned to face the party, keeping an eye on Santana's whereabouts. A frown crossed the woman's face as she looked to where Dani had relocated.

A surprised gasp escaped Dani's lips when she noticed Santana striding purposefully towards her. She had hoped Santana would get the message that she wanted to be left alone, but clearly that wasn't the case. After taking a long sip of her drink and abandoning the half-empty cup so she didn't have to keep carrying it around, she hastily made her escape, cutting through the crowd of people watching Kurt and Rachel singing 'Let it Be'. She briefly wondered if they were trying to direct that song towards her, but quickly pushed the thought aside as she sidestepped around people to get to the opposite corner of the roof. Although she was a bit conspicuous standing in the empty corner of the roof, she was once again at the back of the crowd where the others weren't paying her much attention.

Santana was staring at her from across the party as if contemplating something before making her way over to the band. She watched as Santana whispered to each of her bandmates. The current song ended just as she reached Pete and Dani watched as the two had a brief conversation that she couldn't hear. A frown formed on Dani's face, wondering what Santana was doing and why she couldn't just leave her alone.

Eventually, Pete gave a nod and looked at his bandmates. He glanced out over the crowd before locating Dani in the corner. She gave him a confused look, trying to gesture 'what is going on' as she made her way a bit closer to the stage.

Santana stepped up to the main microphone, "I know that was supposed to be the final song tonight, but I hope you don't mind if I sing one more. I have something I would like to express to someone very important to me."

The crowd gave a cheer of approval, more than happy to hear another song. Santana's friends seemed particularly enthusiastic as they glanced around the roof, likely in an attempt to find Brittany.

Dani wondered if it was too late to take Kurt up on his offer to get the hell out of there. She knew Brittany wasn't outside and she was worried that she was the person Santana was trying to convey a message to. She mentally flipped through the Beatle's discography, wondering if they had a 'sorry for fucking you over' song.

Santana nodded to the band, giving them the go ahead and Max started the song off on drums.

 _"Something in the way she moves_

 _Attracts me like no other lover_

 _Something in the way she woos me"_

Dani's eyebrows raised as Santana began singing 'Something' and a frown settled on her face as she glanced around the roof, wondering if Brittany had rejoined the group when she was busy trying to escape from Santana. She noticed the glee club members seemed just as confused as she was as they tried to locate Santana's fiancée.

 _"I don't want to leave her now_

 _You know I believe and how"_

Dani turned her attention to Santana, wondering why she had chosen to sing this song when Brittany wasn't even here. Her gaze instantly met Santana's and she drew in a deep breath when she realized the other woman was singing to her. Her heart began to pound and she saw a small smile form on Santana's face as she held her gaze.

 _"Somewhere in her smile she knows_

 _That I don't need no other lover_

 _Something in her style that shows me_

 _I don't want to leave her now_

 _You know I believe and how"_

Although she knew everyone else in the room was watching her and some of their expressions likely weren't the most friendly, Dani paid them no mind as she slowly made her way closer to the stage. Her thoughts were still racing and she had more questions than she had answers. She didn't know what Santana had said to Brittany when they left the roof, but they hadn't come back together. Dani wasn't sure if that meant Santana had ended things, but she knew that Santana blatantly serenading her with a love song in front of her closest friends meant that she wasn't keeping Dani a secret anymore.

 _"You're asking me will my love grow_

 _I don't know, I don't know_

 _You stick around now it may show_

 _I don't know, I don't know"_

Santana was smiling at Dani as the blonde drew closer, making Dani's heart do a flip at the pure adoration she found in the other woman's expression. She felt the gaze of those around her watching her every move as she reached the stage. The confusion and tension among those on the roof was nearly palpable, but Dani didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to anyone else as she lost herself in Santana's gaze. It was clear that Santana would be dealing with the aftermath of this for a long time. Her friends were obviously upset and confused that the friend they thought to be newly engaged was pouring her heart out to another woman.

 _"Something in the way she knows_

 _And all I have to do is think of her_

 _Something in the things she shows me"_

Dani felt a smile appear on her face, her earlier hesitation melting as she let herself get swept up in the music. Although she knew that rationally she should still be cautious as she was nearly in tears a little while ago thinking that Santana was going to end up with someone else. However, she had never been rational around Santana. She always jumped in feet first despite her better judgment. Only this time, it felt like Santana was the first to go all in.

 _"I don't want to leave her now_

 _You know I believe and how"_

Santana brought the song to a close, her gaze still locked on the woman in front of her. Dani felt her feet carrying her forward without realizing she had made the decision to go to the other woman. Santana was the first to act, grabbing Dani's hand and pulling her into a kiss as cheers erupted from Dani's bandmates and the NYADA students, who were far enough removed from the individuals involved in the scenario to not have noticed or cared that one of the women on stage had supposedly just gotten engaged.

Dani could tell from the sparseness of the applause that the former glee club members were still stunned into silence. However, she ignored those thoughts in favor of returning Santana's kiss. Her free hand wrapped around the back of Santana's neck to hold her close while Santana placed her hand on Dani's hip. The kiss was slow, but filled with as much passion as their heated, frantic kisses.

Pete led Max and Toby into an instrumental reprise of 'Why Don't We Do It in the Road', causing Dani and Santana to break the kiss, the blonde laughing as she gave her band mates the finger for interrupting the moment, albeit in a way Dani could appreciate.

"Santana, what the hell is going on?" Quinn demanded, the first of the glee club members to break the silence.

Dani glanced over to see Santana tensing at her friend's confrontational attitude. She watched as Santana took a deep breath before taking Dani's hand in hers and leading the way off the stage and over to where her friends were waiting expectantly.

"So this is Dani," Santana began awkwardly, gesturing to the woman beside her as Dani gave a small wave. The expressions of hurt, confusion, and disbelief were overwhelming for Dani, but she knew it had to be worse for Santana and she gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Wait, the same Dani you dated a year ago and left for Brittany?" Quinn asked, crossing her arms as she looked between the two women standing hand in hand.

"Uh, yeah," Santana said with a nod, giving Dani an apologetic sidelong glance, "That Dani."

"If she's your ex, why was she here tonight?" Tina asked, sporting a similar disapproving look as Quinn.

"You have Rachel and Kurt to thank for that," Dani chimed in, nodding towards the duo who had been conspicuously silent during the exchange. "They saw us at Elliott's birthday," Dani whispered to Santana as the rest of the group looked to Kurt and Rachel for answers.

"Oh, I knew they were up to something, I didn't buy their bullshit explanation for a second," Santana muttered.

"Well," Rachel began, looking nervous at the attention, "We knew that Dani was in a band that was familiar with songs by the Beatles, and we needed someone to perform last minute -"

"Save it, Hobbit," Santana cut in, directing the attention of her friends back to her, "Listen, I know you all think I'm a horrible person and you're right. I was cheating on Brittany for months. I obviously had no idea she was planning to propose tonight, but I came clean and told her everything." Santana sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "She deserves a lot better than me," she admitted softly, taking a breath before glancing up her friends, "I didn't mean to hurt her, I was selfish and stupid. I'm the actual worst and I definitely don't deserve Dani either. She's gorgeous, smart, insanely talented, and the most kindhearted badass I've ever met. She should be with someone who's not a total bitch," she paused to turn her attention to the blonde beside her, "But I'm so in love with you."

Dani felt her heart swell at the words. Although it wasn't the ideal time or place for Santana to confess her love, Dani couldn't find it in her to care, "I'm in love with you too," she whispered with a small smile.

There was silence around them as Santana's friends shifted uncomfortably, unsure how to process Santana's honest explanation and confession.

"I know you all are going to want to take Brittany's side in all this - and you should, but I hope you can still be friends with both of us. You're all like family to me." Santana admitted, appearing almost shy at how vulnerable she was allowing herself to be. "I know it might take time, but I hope you can still accept me. And Dani too," she added as she glanced at the blonde, "Because she's not going anywhere."

Dani fought a grin a the words, knowing it wasn't the time to visibly swoon. She gripped Santana's hand tighter though and winked to let her know she wasn't planning on leaving.

"We're happy for you, Santana," Blaine spoke up for the group, glancing around to make sure he wasn't overstepping, "It might take some time for us to forgive what you did to Brittany…"

"But we're a family," Kurt finished his boyfriend's thought.

Santana smiled at that, glancing around at the others to see hesitant smiles. "Thank you," she addressed Blaine and Kurt for speaking up. "I'd like to see you all again before you leave, I understand it might be too soon for some of you. But let me know if you want to meet up before you head home."

Tentative nods and soft hums of acknowledgment served as a response to Santana's offer, which she accepted before turning to Dani and nodding towards the door.

Dani understood it was their cue to leave, "It was nice meeting you all," Dani said with a soft smile as she led Santana towards the exit. She noticed a couple people refused to meet her gaze, while others offered smiles or nods in return. She had a feeling that those who acknowledged her presence would be the first to forgive Santana.

She glanced towards her band, catching Pete's gaze who gave her the go ahead to leave before following it with a sexually explicit gesture, which caused Dani to roll her eyes and smile as she and Santana headed out the door.

The pair silently exited the building, the emotional turmoil of the evening seeming to weigh heavily on both of them. Although Dani was still riding the high of Santana admitting she was in love with her, she was all too aware that things between them wouldn't suddenly become easy and free of complications.

As they began walking in the direction of the subway station, Dani cast a cautious look over at Santana, hoping the other woman wasn't already regretting what she had done. Though Santana was definitely lost in her own thoughts, she didn't appear to be uncertain or remorseful. Dani's concerns were further alleviated as Santana reached over to take her hand as they walked down the street.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dani asked quietly, knowing that the breakup and her friends' reactions to it were probably weighing the heaviest on her.

Santana shook her head slowly, "Not tonight," she replied, "I think I just need some time to process it all first."

"Of course," Dani responded automatically, "Take as much time as you need. No rush."

Santana shot her a brief, grateful smile before returning her attention to the sidewalk. After a long moment, Santana spoke again, "Oh, I kind of need to stay at your place tonight, if that's okay."

"It's definitely okay," Dani responded with a warm smile. She couldn't help but feel excited at the realization that they could actually spend the night with each other now that they weren't sneaking around.

Santana gave her hand a quick squeeze as they continued walking. When they boarded the half-empty train, Dani was prepared to give Santana some physical space so as not to overwhelm her or seem clingy. However, space seemed to be the last thing Santana wanted as she sat close to Dani and wrapped both arms tightly around one of the blonde's.

Dani couldn't keep the smile from her face at the contact. The emotions and desires she'd tried to keep locked up for weeks were finally free. She could admit to herself that she wanted to be with Santana, that she wanted to have an actual relationship with her. Dani wanted to hold her hand as they walked down the street and not have to correct her bandmates when they referred to Santana as her girlfriend.

Fortunately, it seemed that these secret yearnings were becoming a reality. Though they had yet to have a real conversation about this new phase of their relationship, Santana had made it clear to her friends that she intended to have Dani in her life for the foreseeable future.

She was distracted from her musings as Santana rested her head on her shoulder. Dani didn't think twice as she turned to place a tender kiss to her forehead, eliciting a happy smile from Santana.

"I love you, Dani," Santana said with a content sigh.

Though it wasn't the first time she'd heard it that evening, the slightly more private setting they were now in made the words all the more meaningful. Santana wasn't trying to explain or defend anything, she just wanted Dani to know how she felt.

"I love you too, babe," Dani replied, noticing the familiar pet name brought an even wider smile to Santana's face.

The remainder of the trip was silent, but Dani didn't mind; she was filled with a sense of peace and calm that she hadn't experienced in a long time. From the way Santana absently stroked her thumb over Dani's wrist, she could tell the other woman felt it too. Despite everything they had been through over the past few months, and especially earlier that evening, things were going to be okay - more than okay, because now there were no more secrets. Everything was out in the open and they were finally free to move forward into the next stage of their relationship - the best stage, as far as Dani was concerned.

* * *

A/N: Please review and let me know your thoughts on the final chapter!

I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read, review, favorite, and/or follow this story. Your support and kind words have meant so much and motivated me to keep updating, especially during weeks where I felt very uncertain about posting due to my concerns over the quality of the chapter.

Thank you again for reading and I really hope you enjoyed this story!


End file.
